


The Reckoning

by ClaireOMack82



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ensemble Cast, Multi, loba centric, mirage centric, multi relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:14:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 76,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24761404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireOMack82/pseuds/ClaireOMack82
Summary: When the Legends are placed in a kill or be killed situation, relationships are pushed to breaking point, emotions run high and no one knows who to trust. Will they choose to work together to beat the system, or to go it alone and become champions of the arena.
Comments: 35
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

THE RECKONING

CHAPTER 1

Loba couldn't sleep, she had been tossing and turning for the past hour. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what was wrong, but she was sure that something was brewing. It was beginning to get light outside, there was a small sliver of morning sunshine coming through the tiny window behind her bed, it cast a soft glow across her small chest of draws. 

Sighing and throwing off the down comforter, Loba placed her feet on the plush carpet, stretched and winced at the stiffness in her muscles. She normally wouldn't hurt after a match, and Hammond robotics always had something to make them feel good as new. Even if it was something as drastic as almost loosing a limb. Loba however was not a fan of their little remedies, and had simply gotten a hot shower and turned in for the night.

Now though her back protested, as she rubbed the kinks out of her neck, she grimaced and swore under her breath. She had been coming to Mirage's rescue, usually so sure footed, she had been distracted by his cries for help as Revenant stood above him, ready to finish the hapless trickster off. For a moment Loba had not focused on anything, but that monsters face. He had no real expression she knew this, but still she could see the glee there, the exultation that came from this victory.   
Then it had happened, her foot found nothing but air, the edge of the rock she had been climbing down was no longer under her foot, and she tumbled sideways. Her hand finding no purchase as she grasped for something to stop her fall. Landing hard on her backside, and jarring herself all the way up her spine. Loba had cried out at the impact.  
As fortune would have it, this loud and unexpected shout caused the robot to look up, seemingly shocked, and for a moment vulnerable. Loba had not wasted a second, her R-301 still clasped firmly in her hand she hip fired in Revenants direction. It was due not only to luck but also the robots sheer arrogance, that he had not healed himself from his fight with Mirage. Two shots brought the monster to his knees, unable to stand Loba had sprung up, ignoring the pain, and finished him off. Placing the gun under Revenants chin and telling him he should smile more. The moment was only sullied by the fleeting thought that this was not permanent, that the demonio would be back at the Legends Lodge tonight, along with everyone else.

Standing up and throwing on a silk robe, Loba didn't bother to dress, it was very early, no one else was likely to be up, but she needed a glass of cold water. Her thirst was almost tangible now, and she quickly padded towards the kitchen, feet bare and robe left loose behind her.   
Walking into the kitchen Loba winced when her feet hit the cold tiled floor, she raised up on tip toes and almost skipped to the fridge where she knew a nice jug of ice water would be waiting. Reaching in and getting the jug out she turned around, took a glass from the cupboard and placed both on the central island.   
"Awake so early." A voice came from the shadows, Loba almost jumped out of her skin, all her muscles tensing ready to fight, but the voice had been gentle, and also one she recognised. Her eyes then found the shape in the darkness. Anita Williams/ Banglore, sat hands in her hands in her lap legs apart and eyes like shining like a cats in the darkness.  
"Damm it Anita you scared the crap outta me." Loba said her heart rate coming under control as she watched the soldier stand up and make her way towards where she was standing.

"Why'd you think I let you put the water down first." The soldier said with a rye smile, as Loba gave her an arched eyebrow and simply began pouring herself a glass. She was after all still thirsty, and the fact that she was no longer alone changed nothing.  
"So I know why i'm awake, what about you?" Loba asked tilting her head and swallowing at least half the glass she had poured herself. Peripherally she could see Anita watching her, watching her like she didn't think she was being observed. Loba didn't care people had always looked at her. With want, with desire, with fear. She was used to it, heck she used it more often than not to get what she wanted.   
Ignoring Anita's wandering eyes, she pitched her face down and reset the now mostly empty glass on the table. Silently looking up and meeting Anita's eyes head on, neither woman blinked, or spoke for what felt like an eternity and the blink of an eye, all at the same time.  
For a moment Loba didn't think the soldier was going to say anything, simply nod and say goodbye. The woman was very private, always polite, but always professional, she would talk for hours about tactics, but would barely give more than a one word answer when it came to even if she needed any washing doing. Just as Loba was about to pour herself another glass Anita surprised her for the second time that night.

Anita was sure the latino had noticed her fleeting glances. She was ashamed to even admit to herself that she found the woman attractive, and maybe it was the early hour, or the lack of sleep, but her eyes had found the shadowed valley of her bust. Quickly looking away, and giving herself a mental slap, Anita was caught off guard by the thief's question. It was simple question in it'self, nothing unusal about asking it, why was she up so early sitting in the darkness alone. Could she tell Loba the truth, about how lonely she had become, about how the arena was not fulfilling her like it once used too. Probably not, she didn't like to get too close to any of them, but there was something about Loba, not just the beauty, not just the lethality behind the class, but there was something else too, something Anita reconised. Loba was lonely too, deeply and undeniably lonely.  
"I guess something has been bothering me, maybe it's because we are coming to the end of the season, maybe it's anticipation of a new Legend, i don't know maybe it something far more profound." Anita was surprised to hear her own words, the truth, almost, was somehow easier said here in the darkness, to someone she had only known for a short while.

"I know the feeling beautiful, something has been playing on my mind too, and yet no matter how hard I try, I cannot put my finger on what it is." Loba replied her hand delicately clasping the glass in front of her as she raised it back up to her lips. Anita couldn't help but watch as the liquid slipped down the line of her throat, and her tongue pop out to lick the last drops from the rim of the glass. It was then that Anita knew Loba had seen her looking earlier, that this highly accomplished thief was working her, and yet she still felt the need to talk.

"Maybe something will come to light soon, it's the waiting I can't stand." Anita said leaning forward slightly on her elbows and watching the Latinos eyes. They moved down to her own unwavering, almost hypnotising and Anita found she couldn't look away.  
"Sorry ladies, am i umm you know, because I can go if you were having, i mean private time, It wasn't you know important, if you wanted to be I don't know alone or something." Mirage stood at the entrance to the kitchen, his hand scratching behind his head in an awkward manner. Anita almost shouted at him to get lost, but she kept her council as Loba turned to the slightly stunned man.

"Thank's handsome, but breathe, before you give yourself an aneurysm." The smile that grew on the woman's lips seemed to do the trick as Elliot moved forward and joined them at the central island in the middle of the kitchen. The moment she and Loba had shared was well and truly broken, and Anita was not sure if she was glad or not.  
Elliot Witt had heard soft voices coming from the kitchen, one was definitely Loba, her accent gave her away, but the other was a mystery, they were talking too quietly for Elliot to really make out who it was. Driven mostly by curiosity, but also a small and undeniable want to talk to the striking Latino. He had pulled himself out of bed and padded silently down the hall. As he drew closer, he could now tell that it was infact Bangalore, who was the other participant in this seemingly deep conversation. Elliot almost stopped right then, turned back towards his bedroom and got straight back into bed. His curiosity however, overrode his hesitation at facing the soldier at such an early hour, and he quietly moved to the doorway. He watched for a moment, transfixed by the scene. Loba was only wearing a camisole, with some pretty short shorts, that the trickster could tell were silk. Her robe hung open and she was leaning slightly forward on the counter. Probably so she could hear what Anita was saying, as the woman was speaking in hushed tones. As Loba took a drink, and Mirage's eyes were drawn first to her lips then on a downwards slide, he quickly caught himself, and looked at Anita who was also staring at the woman before her.

Realising that he would have to either retreat or say something quickly, before this turned from innocent curiosity to creepy and weird, Elliot found himself speaking such gibberish he wondered how the women, now both looking at him, even understood a single word he said.  
"Thank's handsome but breathe before you give yourself an aneurysm." Loba had said, breaking the tension, but also secretly giving Elliot butterflies as she had refered to him as handsome. He knew she often tossed around handsome and beautiful as though they meant nothing, but right now the man felt like she was truly talking to him, not just playfully jibing him in the arena.

"So you guys not able to sleep either i take it." Mirage said as he collected a glass from the cupboard and Loba offered him the jug of water. He held out his glass for her to pour, and just for a moment their eyes connected and Elliot couldn't help the blush that rose on his cheeks.  
"Umm thanks." He managed to choke out before tilting the glass to his lips and draining it. Suddenly his mouth felt like sandpaper, and his tongue like a dry hard stone.   
"Anytime, we were just talking about why we were up so early, i guess we aren't the only ones with the sleepless bug." Loba said turning around and placing her glass in the sink, obviously finished with it. Mirage watched the sway of her hips as she padded across the floor and rinsed her glass under the tap. He turned quickly catching himself again, and running right into a death glare from Anita. Before something could be said Loba had returned and was now moving to perch herself on one of the stools that were next to the counter. Elliot purposefully looked intently at his now empty glass, and managed to cough awkwardly.  
"I'm up because I could here you guys talking, just wondered if something was up you know." He said proud for getting out his sentence without too much stammering.  
"Guess we all got the same problem then." Anita said then standing up and making her way back towards the chair she had previously occupied.  
"Oh, what's that then." Elliot said now turning to look at the solider, her face cast in shadows as she sat in the chair, the ever growing light from the outside allowing him to see most of the room now.  
"A case of the those who must not be kept waiting."

Morning had now come fully into the Legends Lodge, the rays of sunshine filtered through the opaque glass that adorned the side of the communal living room. Most of the Legends were awake now, going about their daily routine. Loba had returned to her room to put on some more appropriate clothes and to put on some shoes, her feet were freezing from an hour or more on the cold floor. After Anita had moved away from them at the counter, Loba knew the magic or whatever it had been was gone, the woman had retreated again. It was a draw back, but not a problem in the long run. the conversation had grown casual then, talk about what might happen next season, who would win tomorrow, who would be on their team. Now as she made her way back to the living room, Loba glanced at her watch and shook her head.  
"Damm it." Realising that it was almost time for arena and team announcements, she started to trot down the hallway and found everyone already in situ.  
"Hey." Ajay Che/Lifeline said giving her a smile, and Loba returned it in kind. The woman was nothing if not cheery, and it was infectious.  
"Sleep in?" The woman said as Loba sat down next to her on the sofa, turning her head slowly and giving it a shake.  
"No beautiful, I just had to change into something a bit less comfortable." The woman next to her raised one dark eyebrow, and was obviously about to say something when the announcer came over the internal tannoy.

"Good morning Legends, today's announcement will be different from the usual, as the games are cancelled for today."  
That caused everyone to stop whatever they were doing and look at whomever was nearest in shock.  
"Tomorrow is a special day in the history of Apex Legends, the ending of one era and the beginning of a new. In season six we will only be taking three Legends forward to compete. So tomorrow there will be a winner takes all match. No teams, no respawn, no coming back."  
It was then a collective breath was taken in, and the room filled with a tension so thick they could almost taste it.  
"You may choose to fight one another, work with one another, or simply go it alone, but beware there will be things waiting for you inside the arena, things that are only intent on your destruction. There will be no ring, no end until there are only three left standing. So make sure you choose your friends wisely, for tomorrow you truly fight for your lives."  
Silence that was all that was left, the sound of breathing all that was in the room, and yet for each and every single Legend it was deafening.

Thank you for reading, all comments, suggestions welcome


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

'Someone's watching you' the voice in Wraith's head sounded as she looked up from her half empty, mostly cold cup of coffee. there was indeed several eyes on her. Renee knew that she had always been the voice of reason. She had spent so long controlling her emotions, so long ignoring her inner voices that reasoning, and control were second nature to her now.  
"This is your fault." The voice came from the corner, it was quiet controlled but held more venom than Renne had ever heard from Alexander before. Wraith turned to look in the direction the comment was aimed. Loba was sat silent next to Ajay, her head hung on her neck slightly, and for a brief moment Renne thought the woman was going to agree.  
"How." She finally asked, there was contempt in her voice and Wraith now decided the Latino wasn't upset, but angry. Her emotions barely held in check as all eyes were now on her.

"You came, you changed the game, destroyed the arena, and gave them a reason to dislike us." Caustic said his voice not rising in volume, but Wraith wince inwardly, at the negative vibes coming from the man. He was scared, simply scared, much like most of the room. He however was lashing out at the easiest target.  
"I did what i needed to." Loba replied her eyes now connecting with Alexandra's, he met her gaze with one of his own. Renne could feel the tension building in the room. It was amazing what a little true fear could do.  
"It's no one fault, they probably would have done this no matter what, keeps people interested." Wraith said quickly hoping to defuse the situation, before someone did something they regretted. 

It didn't work the Latino stood up and walked briskly down the hall way, all eyes on her as she went. Renne was in two minds as to whether to go after her or not. After all they had a lot to discuss, but for now maybe she just needed time to cool off.  
"I think they just want to put on a good show." Mirage said from his perch on the arm of the sofa. His smile not quite reaching his eyes.  
"Of course they do, but does it have to be at the expense of our lives?" Natalie Wattson Paquette said her voice soft as usual, but it had an edge that Renne had never heard in the young woman's voice.  
"Whatever we think, we know this is going to happen, we must plan for how we are going to get through this. all of us." Wraith said finally standing up and starting to pace around the room. All this emotional tension finally making her want to claw her way out of the lodge and run for the trees. She suspected that she wasn't the only one.  
"I agree, i have no desire to be taken out by some wild animal." Octavio Silva said from his seat at the kitchen counter. Renne notice even now he wasn't still his legs were swinging back and forth as he almost air ran as he sat.

Coming to a halt in the center of the room Wraith looked around at the faces she knew so well, it was to think that tomorrow they might no longer be here.  
"Look umm i'm going to you know get Loba, she should be here if we're going to plan and stuff." Elliot said looking his usual awkward self, when it came to talking about feelings, or women in general. Renne smiled and nodded at him, there was something very charming about the trickster, and she would truly hate to not ever see him again.

Mirage made his way down the hallway adjacent to the communal living and eating area. there were bedrooms on either side, each held a Legends possessions, clothes books, things from their lives before now. It made Elliot sad for a moment, before he came to the final door on the left. Now all he felt was nerves. He didn't know why he had volunteered to go and find Loba. It wasn't like he was the only one in the room, or the one who knew her best. Actually no one really knew her, he was fairly sure they had barely scratched the surface where she was concerned.  
"Oh well." Elliot thought shrugging his shoulders and tapping lightly on the door. he knew he would look pretty silly if he went back to the others without her. Also like a bit of a coward.

When there was no answer Elliot didn't know whether to be relieved or worried. Not knowing what to do, he stood there for a moment, and then knocked a little harder. Still there was no response from the Latino, and now Elliot was genuinely worried. cracking open the door he called out.  
"Hey it's Elliot are you ok, we were just going to talk about what to do." He entered the room it was pin neat. There was a jacket laid over the chair at the small desk, but other than that Eillot would have believed the room was empty, not lived in everyday.  
"Hello, Loba are you in here?" he said moving forward so he could see the wardrobe in the corner, but the room was exactly how it felt. Empty.  
Actually panicked now he turned flew out of the room, and back to the others, where he burst breathless into the space.  
"Loba's gone."  
"What?" Renne said almost jumping out of her chair, followed buy most if not all the legends, they all raced down the hallway and saw for themselves the unoccupied room.  
"Well she can't just have up and vanished like a fart in the wind." Octavio said spinning around the room, and coming to a stop next to Gibraltar, who was looking shocked and worried.  
"No obviously not, she must be around here somewhere, maybe looking though all our things." Alexander said he still hadn't got over his idea that the woman was somehow to blame.  
"Unlikely ." Wraith stated, looking around the room, and noticing the small open window above the bed. They all had a window in their rooms. they only opened a few inches to let in a bit of fresh air. no way could a person get through one. Loba however only needed an inch or two to get her bracelet through.  
'she's outside' the voice echoed as Renne shook her head slightly and looked around at all of the pensive faces.  
"I think she could be outside." she stated as all eyes turned to her, and looked at her like she had something unpleasant on her face.  
"I'm not kidding, all our area weapons are taken away from us before they drop us back here, but Loba's bracelet is DNA coded to her , only she can remove it. There is enough room through the gap in the window for her to trans-locate outside." Wraith explained, her eyes darting from the window, to the faces in the room.

"Damm her, what does she think she is doing, does she plan on trying to run?" Caustic said now also looking worried, and maybe a bit guilty.  
"No she can't the ring is out there she wouldn't make it more than a mile." Ajay replied glancing out of the window and seeing the faint orange glow that seemed to cast its light over everything. So much so that no one even noticed it any more.  
"Yeah maybe she is just you know getting some air." Elliot chimed in and Anita gave him a look that somewhat confused Renne. She tried not to dwell on it, but she knew she would have to ask Anita about that look later, now they had to work out if Loba was outside and what this meant for the rest of them. Before the thoughts could even form however a voice came from behind them all.  
"Can I ask what you are all doing in my room?"  
Simultaneously they all managed to look like the proverbial kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The ironic thing was they hadn't even done anything wrong, maybe it was the tone of Loba's voice or the way she stood casually hip thrown out hand against the door frame, waiting for an answer. At first no one spoke up, everyone was hoping someone else would do it.

"Well you see, I came to find you, and couldn't, I got a bit worried, and told everyone, and we came to look for you." Elliot finally blurted out, and now it was Loba's turn to look guilty. it was only a fleeting look, but Wraith saw it none the less.  
"I was just thinking." She said knowing that there was no way they were going to let her leave it at that. Hoping to buy for time Loba suggested they all go back to the living room and get a bit more comfortable.  
"We know your going outside." Anita spoke then, her voice was more hurt than angry and for a split second Loba actually felt bad for lying to them. Not that she had even been lying, not really and only by omission.  
"Where do you go?" Ajay asked and Loba was grateful for the question. There was no accusation in the woman's voice, only curiosity.  
"Just over to a small area where i can sit and look at the world, I can't go far because the ring is only about half a mile away in every direction. Believe me i tried, thinking i could maybe make it out, but that ring is set on high, i mean like ring five high." Loba said her body now leaning fully against the door frame, and the room suddenly lost some of it's tension.

"They knew we might get out, they knew so they did it on purpose, some of us are here more willingly than others." Renne said looking around the room, at the nodding faces.  
"I am not surprised by the forsite of Hammond." Bloodhound said moving from the corner and coming to stand in front of Loba. It was the first time Wraith could remember the tracker talking to the Latino outside of the arena.  
"I am aware of your struggles, and I know how it feels to loose ones family, we must all prepare ourselves for the battle tomorrow." Bloodhound said placing a hand upon Loba's upper arm and giving it a small squeeze. This gesture above any other Loba had ever received touched her beyond words.

"Shall we move this back to the living room, it's starting to feel a little cramped in here." Wraith said now feeling like the situation was becoming somewhat awkward. No one however objected and they all filed out back into the more spacious communal space.

They all choose their preferred seats. Crypto, Caustic and Bloodhound sat at the kitchen counter, Pathfinder stood next to them. Loba Mirage, and Lifelife occupied the sofa. Bangalore sat in the arm chair. Caustic and Gibraltar took seats at the dining table, along with Wattson and Octane. Wraith sat in the other arm chair, and watched as Revenant stalked his way over to the corner and perched on the window sill.

"So whats the plan?" Octane asked and everyone looked at everyone else, there was so much to talk about, but one one wanted to start. Wraith couldn't help but wonder how many of them were thinking about killing the others.  
"I know that he will have no intention of helping any of us." Loba then spoke up looking directly at Revenant who just sat there and looked back at her with his hollow dark eyes.  
"You opinion isn't exactly biased." Crypto spoke up and Caustic nodded in his agreement.  
"Perhaps, but you don't know what I know." Loba said with a rye smile that finally made Revenant react.  
"You think you know me little girl, you know nothing." His voice grated on Wraith's teeth and she had to admit she didn't entirely trust the simulacrum, and out of everyone sat in this room, he would be the last person she would want watching her back.  
"What do you know?" Ajay then said and Loba turned to her the smile only getting wider as she spoke.  
"He can't die, his body can but he will be resurrected into another body. That's why I came here to find his brain matter and destroy it, so that I could finally end him for good."  
Loba said and for a moment Wraith knew the entire room was slightly stunned. It now however made sense. Loba had no reason to try and Kill Revenant in his sleep, or go after him every game, she knew he couldn't die, not really, not finally any way.  
"So no matter what we do, he will live, you will be one of the three." Gibraltar said now looking at Revenant with his eyebrows furrowed together. It was as close to a look of anger the man ever had.  
"I don't know, all I know is I am not allowed to die, but against the people in this room, the likely hood of my victory is high." The arrogance of this thing made Lobas teeth hurt, she ground them down, trying to stop the need to stand up and snap his neck, she only succeeded in making her jaw ache.

What followed the revelation about Revenant's inability to die, was a lot of talk about nothing. There was a brief discussion about trying to fly the supply ship out of the arena, but Alexander pointed out that there was no bridge no way to pilot it. They had all agreed that there was only so long they could survive inside the arena without food, so they were all going to take as much with them as they could stock pile. High ground was the key, somewhere easy to defend. No one spoke about how they wouldn't be able to hold out forever, and when things got bad Wraith knew that's when people would start showing their true colours.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The night seemed to linger, like a fart in an elevator. Mirage felt that uncomfortable now. the down comforter felt hot and cumbersome. The room felt like there was no air, and his skin prickled at thoughts of the dawn.  
Finally giving up and throwing off all his covers, Elliot placed his feet on the floor, his head in his hands and took a deep shuddering breath inwards. That was it, he gave up two hours of tossing and turning was enough. Getting up and throwing on a shirt he made his way into the living room. Maybe a nice cup of herbal tea would help.  
Moving around the kitchen he started to boil the kettle on the stove, looking into the cupboard his eyes passing over the various selection of teas. Luckily Natalie was a big tea drinker and had brought many types with her. Settling on a red berry blend, Elliot placed the bag in the cup, and placed both hands on the counter and sighed.

"Things that bad handsome."

The voice made Elliot visibly jump, and he spun around to face the person speaking to him from the sofa in the far corner. He had had no idea that she had been there. Usually he was so attuned to his surroundings, but not this time. Either he was just that off his game, or she was just that good. Both options scared him beyond reason. 

"Umm yeah, I supposed, lots to think about i guess, you know sleep and all that, not so forth coming." Elliot babbled slightly as Loba smiled in the darkness. He could see a row of white teeth and not much else.  
The whistle from the kettle saved his blushes, as he quickly turned around and picked the hot object from the burner. Pouring himself a cup, he turned kettle in hand and smiled in the direction of his shadowed companion.  
"You want one?" He asked trying to sound sincere, and not at all creepy, but still it felt like come on. Maybe i was just his brain, turning everything he said to the woman into an innuendo, even when it wasn't. Wishful thinking, he thought to himself, as Loba stood up and came into view. The faint orange glow from the window now illuminating her better. She hadn't changed, which meant she probably had never been to bed in the first place. She still looked good, but Elliot couldn't imagine a situation where she wouldn't look good. Even covered in mud and placed in a burlap sac the woman would still be stunning.

Quickly getting that image out of his brain, Elliot did notice that she looked tired, no beyond that exhausted. Turning he pulled another mug from the cupboard, placed a tea bag in it and filled it with the hot water.  
"I think you need this." He said without any pretense this time, and Loba took it with a small smile.  
"Thank you." She replied, perching on one of the stools next to the counter. Her lips pursed, and she blew breath across the steaming cup, trying to cool it before taking a sip. Elliot was mesmerized, her long elegant fingers clutching the cup, her face half shadowed in the darkness, and her soft red lips blowing across her cup.  
'No No No you will get this out of your head right now, you know damm well this woman will kill you soon as look at you.' Elliot admonished himself, looking away and taking a sip of his own tea. Quickly turning and spitting the piping hot liquid into the sink, he opened his moth and tried to fan it cooler with his hand.  
"Well I guess you should have been paying more attention to what you were doing." Loba said with a rye smile, and Elliot knew she had noticed him staring at her. She didn't however seem to mind as he looked at her and she was still smiling at him.

"Yeah i guess so." Was his only reply feeling well and truly like a creep now, and blowing on his own tea to cool it. Glancing up through his eyelashes, he was pleased to see her now watching him. Maybe all hope wasn't lost. Apart from the fact that they were probably going to die tomorrow.  
"Hey you want to, you know talk about things maybe it would help." Elliot said realising that actually he had nothing to loose. If this was his last chance then he might as well go ahead and take it.  
"Sure why not." Loba replied standing up and moving back towards the sofa. Eillot followed her like a obedient puppy, and didn't even think about why. He sat opposite her on the arm chair, much more in favour of looking at her than sitting next to her. Plus that may have been to brash, especially with all the empty seats.

"So, whats umm that is to say, what has been on your mind, I mean I don't want to pry or anything, but talking about things can help." Elliot said mentally face palming as Loba simply sat on looked into her mug of tea.  
"I guess tomorrow, I want to work together, believe me, but I know I can never truly be a part of that monsters survival. I need him dead." Loba said her voice taking on a quality, one of which Mirage hand not heard before. It was pure hatred plan and simple, and knowing about what happened to her family Elliot could understand it.  
"I don't think any of us really trust him, but until he has no choice, as long as they keep sending creatures after us, he will fight, after that, maybe we make a group decisions about what to do with him." Elliot said not a stutter in his voice and he knew Loba believed him as she met his eyes and smiled.

"Thank you, I needed to hear that." She said her hand reaching out to pat his leg from across the coffee table. Elliot was great full for the darkness, for he knew his face was as red as a beetroot. The lingering brush of her fingers still present on his knee, even long after her hand had retreated. It sent little tingles of heat through his body.  
"You planning on getting any sleep at all tonight, because if you want to stay here, i can well, you know i am happy to keep you company." Elliot said fidgeting slightly in his chair but not breaking her gaze.  
"Aren't you sweet, thank you." Loba said reclining slightly and raising her mug to her lips. She drank until the cup was empty and placed it on the coffee table in front of them. Her fingernails tapping the rim before sitting up and placing her hands in her lap.  
"I don't know how anyone could sleep tonight." She half whispered as Elliot lent forward slightly to better hear her. Her eyes were not looking at him any more but something beyond his head.  
"Maybe they aren't, maybe everyone is like me just tossing and turning in bed. Waiting for the sun to come up. Well that is except Pathfinder he just turns himself off, or runs diagnostics, i'm not sure actually." Elliot said and he heard her small laugh and it made him pleased. If he could make her smile it was one good thing about this terrible day.

"I am glad I met you Elliot." Loba then said, almost knocking him flat on his ass, that would be if he wasn't already sitting on it. His reply stuck in his throat as footsteps came trotting down the hall.  
"We need to wake everyone, I know something, or at least I am pretty sure I do." Wraith's voice came from the doorway, and Elliot felt like telling her to come back later, but the haunted look in the woman's eye's gave him pause.  
"I'll go now." He said simply leaving the two women alone.  
Wraith looked at Loba, the woman sat like she didn't have a care in the world, but Renne knew better. After all she was up dressed in yesterdays clothes at two am, and she wasn't looking at Renne at all, simply staring at her discarded cup on the table.  
"You know something?" Loba asked her voice low, soft but almost predatory.  
"I'll wait until everyone gets here, saves telling everything twice." Renne replied her voice colder than she intended it to be, but it seemed to do the trick as the thief sat back crossed her legs and waited.

One by one they filed in. Some sleepy eyeed others looking around like they had just walked into an ambush. Sitting themselves around the living room Renne took a deep breath.  
"I have been having nightmares all night, dreams that I think aren't dreams at all but a foreshadowing of what is to come." Wraith paused looked around the room to gauge the reaction, but everyone was just sitting waiting for her to continue.  
"I keep seeing these robots, hundreds of them, and they all look like you." Renne finally said pointing to Revenant and all eyes turned to him. He was once more perched on the windowsill. His posture as nonchalant as it could be, being made of metal.

"More than one of me, your nightmares are coming true." Revenant chuckled as Loba stood up and turned on the Simulacrum.  
"You have no idea about nightmares, you have no feelings, no true self, you're nothing but a metal shell for a once evil man, and there is not too much left of him now. only this, only this nightmare." She spat the words at him, trying to hurt the man that was before this thing that stood before them now.  
"Silly little girl, think you can hurt me with your pathetic words, well now, when were you going to tell them about what you found down there, down below skull town. How you tried to destroy me, how you tried to destroy all of me."

The room was silent, Loba's chest heaved up and down, her anger rising to boiling point as she stared at the object of her hate, really stared at him for the first time since she had been here. Knowing that killing him would be of little use, she had instead ignore him, put him out of her mind, treating him like he didn't even exist. Now though now she allowed herself to look, and what she saw was fear, real and almost uncontrollable fear. Not about possibly dying, but about never dying, never being allowed to rest.  
"What was in that lab?" Anita then spoke up, it must have only been a few moments since Revenant posed the question, but to Loba it felt like eon's had past.  
"I found him, well I thought I had, but I also found hundreds of copies of his body. I thought they might all be gone, buried under a tonne of rubble, but perhaps not, there maybe other repository's." Loba said now deflating and sitting back in her chair.

"I truly didn't know, I would have mentioned it." Loba said and for once the room, seemed to believe her.

"Ok so these body's would they still work without you know him inside them." Gibraltar asked and Loba shook her head.  
"I have no idea, i was only interested in destroying the source material, i didn't pay too much attention to the cloned body's." Loba replied and Renne sat forward.  
"I think we can assume that they are controllable, probably like pathfinder, only less sophisticated. No offence." Renne said smiling at Pathfinder as the robot stood next to Tea Joon.  
"No problem friend, no offence taken." The machine replied and Wraith was once more grateful for the robots inbuilt politeness.  
"If they have been programmed maybe they can be re-programmed." Tea Joon said then now looking more hopeful as the first reys of sunlight poked though the night sky. Loba turned to them as everyone began talking about how they could stop the Revenant copies. she had stopped listening a long time ago. Whatever was out there waiting for them didn't matter. Hammond Robotics mattered, and the quicker she could convince them all off this, the more of them might make it out alive.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Loba pulled on her boots, there was really no need to wear her arena attire, but for some reason it just didn't feel right wearing anything else. It lacked the pockets she would need to carry food with her, but Loba just couldn't bring herself to go with the casual many pockets look. Standing up she span her bracelet around on her wrist, and took a deep breath. Walking out of her room she closed the door behind her, knowing that one way or another she wouldn't need what she had left behind.

Moving back into the living area she noticed that everyone had opted for their usual arena attire. No one had opted for the casual look either, and Loba imagined that they all were thinking the same as she was. To wear normal clothes meant you had given up. the room was silent, all sitting in their own contemplation, Loba guessed as she went to the cupboard and picked up the crackers and cheese she had been designated to carry. looking around at herself she had no idea where to put them. She looked up when she felt eyes on her, not surprised to see Anita looking at her she gave her a small smile.  
"This is what happens when you choose fashion over practicality." She said as the woman looked at her, unabashedly this time and appraised her problem.  
"I guess you will have to figure something out." Anita replied with somewhat of a cocky grin. Loba wanted to frown at her, but it was so out of character for her to say something so brash, that Loba was momentarily stunned into silence. 

"I guess you're right." Loba finally said as the woman walked away without so much as a look over her shoulder. Leaving Loba to indeed figure out where she was going to keep her supplies.

Ajay stood in the corner of the room watching her friends, who were mostly sat in silent contemplation. She couldn't blame them, some of them might not be coming back from this. she hoped that their plan would work, and that Hammond would see sense and let them all live. Lifeline was pretty sure that wouldn't happen, but there was always hope.  
Loba seemed to be having trouble storing her designated supplies, and Ajay was tempted to help her out, but the way Bangalore was smiling at the woman's difficulties made Ajay think twice. It seemed like the soldier was getting a lot of pleasure out of seeing the thief struggle, and who was she to argue with a moment of joy. 

Loba finally tucked the crackers into her gun holster, figuring she would stash them away well before she needed it for an actual gun. The cheese only had one place to go, down the cleavage. Noticing Lifeline looking at her she gave her a wink and strutted across the room like she wasn't carrying half a pound of cheese down her bra.

"Legends it is time for the drop, good luck to you all. Please know that we at Hammond robotics appreciate all that you have done for us so far, and we look forward to working with the winners in the future."  
The words felt as hollow as the tone with which they were delivered. no one mentioned it, no one said anything in fact as they were sucked up into the drop ship.

"The tower." Caustic said as he examined one of his gas canisters to make sure it was ready to go. They had spoke well into the night about what area was most defendable. there was some cries for the Air base, but in the end high ground was the key. Bottle necking whatever was coming for them would be the only way to keep them at bay. They all knew that if these copies had anywhere near the abilities of the real Revenant's they were all in trouble.

Ajay sat next to Mirage who looked more than distracted, he wasn't his usual jovial self, but it wasn't like she could blame him. However Ajay was perturbed by the mans silence, even in the most tense situations, the trickster usually had some quip to ease the situation.  
"One minute to drop." The voice came over the tannoy, and now there was a palpable silence inside the ship. It barely felt like anyone was breathing, let alone speaking, and for Lifeline this was almost the deepest cut of all. The camaraderie between them was something that kept her going every day. She was a medic, there to save lives not take them, and even though she hurt people in the arena everyday, she also knew that ultimately they would be ok, that they would be back at the lodge in the evening all fine and well. Not this time though, this time when she couldn't save someone, it would be permanent.  
"30 seconds until drop."  
"Tower." Gibraltar concurred as they all stood up simultaneously, the big man taking point, knowing that out of all of them, of ther was something waiting down there, he would at least stand a chance.  
5  
4  
3  
2  
1....

Loba felt the rush of air against her face, she felt like closing her eyes, but she didn't quite dare. focusing on where her team were headed she peeled off to the side somewhat to find some loot. Having no idea if any of their ultimate's would be available Loba knew she would have to get something good before they moved towards the tower.  
Hearing footsteps behind her Loba quickly spun around ready to fight when Mirage almost ran straight into her.  
"Damm it Elliot." She exclaimed as he pulled up right before they clashed chests.  
"Sorry, I just thought you would know where the best stuff is." he said looking around quickly and scanning the area.  
"True its what I do best." Loba said now looking around and seeing everything she needed with barely more than a glance.  
"Purple shield left second box. Also what looks like a extended heavy mag, opposite box. Have fun handsome." She said and then she was gone, having translocated to another area. Leaving Elliot alone, and wondering what it must be like to see things like that. Deciding that it must be damm confusing, but also so helpful, he headed off in the direction that Loba had suggested.

Bloodhound scanned the area, there was nothing in sight, they gave a quick nod to Lifeline on their left and noted that Bangalore was already opening a loot box to their right. They all had their own designated loot. Grab the biggest backpack they could find, load it with shield cells, health and any hop ups and attachments they could find. Who knew what they others would need when they met back up at the tower. Bloodhound was designated SMG'S as they would need to be at the forefront of the battle. Quickly making their way into the building and picking up a prowler. Bloodhound could only hope that someone would find him a select fire. Seeing that Lifeline had picked up a purple backpack, they quickly pinged the many shield batteries in the room.  
"I here ya." Ajay called back as she made her way towards them. Quickly scooping up all they needed, the trio made their way towards the tower.  
Crypto dashed along the walkway, looking for the sniper that he had been assigned. He was to be kept out of the main fighting so he could use his drone to help locate the enemies. Caustic was running behind him, already carrying an r-99 and a evo-8. He was to be in a vanguard, maximum damage was his goal.  
Finally finding a longbow Crypto quickly grabbed at re-45 just in case, and also pocketed as many bullets as he could carry. He somehow knew that this game wouldn't come down to how much ammunition they were carrying, but the temptation to take it was immense. Turning now and heading back for the tower they moved quickly, keeping to as much cover as they could. Dying now would not be anyone's idea of a good thing.  
Wattson, Octane and Gibraltar were on a mission for assault rifles. With their combined capabilities they would be used as a shield for defending the main keep. Octane was running with his spitfire in the front, scouting ahead for his team mates. So far no one had seen anything, or heard anything. Octane wondered if this is what they wanted. no quick deaths at the drop scramble, but a long drawn out battle. Wait until everyone thought they were safe then rain down hell.

Revenant stood on a rock watching as Pathfinder and Wraith looted below. He didn't really care about what was going on below him. All he really wanted was for this to all be over, he briefly scanned the edge of the arena, it was surrounded by the ring, but he knew he could simply throw himself off the edge and at least, for now he would be done. It wouldn't however be over, they would bring him back. Miss Andrade was right in one thing she had been unsuccessful in destroying his source material.   
As Wraith and Pathfinder rejoined him Revenant turned and headed back up the hill, following him, for a reason that he just couldn't fathom. Well that wasn't exactly true, he knew it, but he was just a little bit off admitting it to himself. He wanted to be with these people, they were the closest things to friends he had had in hundreds of years, and one more disturbing little facet, one that would not remove itself from the back of his mind. He actually felt guilt over Loba's parents. Maybe it was because he now knew the woman, saw her pain, or maybe it was something far more insidious. Shaking his head and growling low in his voice box Revenant tucked his arms close to his side and ran.

Loba met back up with Mirage after she had finally managed to track down the two gold backpacks they had been after. After all she and she alone had the capability to find all the rare loot they would need. The backpacks were stuffed with all the hop ups from Hammer point rounds to skull piercer. Also, and Loba was quite proud of this, she managed to find not one, but two gold shields.  
"Ready handsome?" She asked stuffing the last Double tap trigger into her bag. Wing man at her hip, and R-301 on her back she stood turned around and located the tower in the distance.  
"Sure." Mirage said knowing they were going to now go back to the others and hold out against whatever was coming for them. On the one hand Elliot wanted the safety of his friends, but on the other he was enjoying his alone time with Loba. There was something about the woman, and it wasn't just the way she looked. She was complicated and Elliot liked complicated.  
"You know, I mean if I don't say this now I might never get the chance,I mean we could be dead before sunset. Not that there is any pressure or anything I just need to know something." Mirage said stopping and holstering his Hemlock.  
"What is is beautiful, come on I don't bite." Loba said playfully, she had seen this look, this entire routine before, and although she found it endearing, now was not exactly the time.  
"Do you mean it when you call me handsome, or is it just something you throw out too everyone?" Elliot managed as Loba looked at him her dark eyes boring holes straight into his soul.  
"Oh handsome, I wouldn't say if I didn't mean it. Now we have a long hike, so lets go." Loba said the smile gracing her face falling at the distance at which they had to travel.  
"No I mean because I think you're handsome, I mean beautiful, damm it why can't I just say it." Mirage said looking down at his shoes and almost jumping out of his skin when a hand fell on his upper arm.  
"I know what you mean." This time her voice was soft, no hint of the playfulness that it usually carried. Elliot looked at her and allowed his hand to fall over hers, which was still placed on his arm. Just for a moment only they existed, standing at the bottom of a large canyon, surrounded by the familiar sights and sounds of the arena.  
"Let's go." Loba's voice was lower, almost a whisper, and Elliot knew it was time, he had said more or less what he needed to say, now there was work to be done.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When Loba and Mirage arrived t the tower, everyone else was already there. Wattson had placed up her fences, Gibraltar was standing watch and Crypto was sat over in the corner on his drone.  
"What you two get?" Anita said coming up to them and was quickly followed by everyone else. They were like vultures around a dead animal. All finding the things that they needed to upgrade their guns. There was some mumbled thank you's, some more overt hugs and hi fives from others. Elliot looked some what uncomfortable, and Loba knew for all his brashness, he was, at heart a quite and somewhat sensitive man. It was this side of him, more than the jokester, more than the cockiness that came with being attractive. That had caught Lobas attention. She watched him now as he moved to the edge of the tower, and was obviously scanning for any enemy's. 

What he had told her in the valley hadn't exactly surprised her, but flattered maybe. However this was not the time for mulling over possible romantic liaison, this was about surviving this game, or whatever it was and taking down Hammond robotics, and their greatest creation.  
"Hey are you ok?" Natalie asked he,r hand tapping Loba on the shoulder and making her jump.  
"Sure yes sorry my mind must have wonder for a second there beautiful." The smaller woman looked at her. The silent look of knowing in her eyes, made Loba feel a little uncomfortable. Not that she would ever let it show on her face at all.  
"I know we are all in a difficult situation, and emotions can start to run high. I'm positive that it will all work out in the end though." The small french woman smiled and moved away, and Loba didn't know whether to be confused or worried. In the end it didn't matter as an announcement came.  
"Beginning round one."  
"What I thought this was round one. It usually starts as soon as we drop." Gibraltar said his face confused as Crypto stood up.  
"The're coming."

"Everyone arm up." Bangalore said pulling out her gun and running to the edge.  
"How far?" She asked looking though her sniper scope. Crypto and herself had one. It was decided as she was the best shot that she should get the honor.  
"Hold on switching to drone view." Crypto said as he crouched down and the sound of his drone moving out could be herd above them.  
"Far off at the moment, they are at the far end of the valley by the artillery. My drone is running out of range, but I can tell there are a lot of them." Crypto said as he looked up and recalled his drone.  
"What is coming?" Loba asked with some trepidation as the man turned to her.  
"Prowlers."  
Loba turned to look in the direction Crypto had told them they were coming from, but she couldn't see anything yet.   
"That's not so bad I mean can they even get up here?" Lifeline said also moving too the edge of the tower. They were not on the highest level, but the one below. there was something about being enclosed that felt somehow safer. It was a silly notion really because a ceiling would do nothing in the end if those things got in there.  
"Maybe, and maybe not, we have no idea how high they can climb." Caustic said as he scanned the area below them and Loba got the distinct impression that the scientist knew they weren't as safe as they all felt.  
"How many?" Bangalore asked looking through the scope on her longbow. There was something moving out there, but as yet it was too far off to clearly see.  
"Hundreds."  
That single word sent a chill down Loba's spine, her hand, the one holding her R-301 began to shake. It wasn't like her to be this afraid, she had felt fear before, a long time ago, the worst fear of her life. Now she felt that fear again.

Mirage watched as the rest of his team prepared for the inevitable confrontation, he looked at each one individually. Whilst Bangalore Pathfinder, and Revenant all looked their usual composed selves, there was definite fear on the faces of Wattson, Lifeline and Gibraltar. Wraith looked deep in concentration, more pensive than afraid. Caustic was pacing back and forth, a sure sign that he was less than comfortable with this situation. Mirage was pretty tempted to pace with him, except that the woman standing on his left actually appeared to be shaking. he could here the metallic click of her gun as it reverberated against her bracelet.   
This made Mirage more nervous than even the thought of hundreds of Prowlers coming towards them. For a woman that was so strong, so sure of herself to be shaking beside him, made him wonder if she knew something about what was coming, something no one else did.

"It's easy bleed, patch and keep moving." Lifeline said with a small smile on her face, but there was something in her voice that said she didn't quite believe it this time.  
"I see them." Bangalore then shouted and everyone moved to the edge, all looking down their gun sites at the vision that came across the rocks. It was like a dark shadow moving as one. Mirage could almost here the panted breaths the beasts let out as they descended the hill towards the tower. none of them deviated, none of them tried to break off into different sections, they were coming for them as a single unit, all teeth and claws, and they knew exactly where they were.

"How do they know, how did they know to come straight here?" Wattson said her voice cracking slightly at the edges. She had said out loud what everyone else was thinking, no one responded however, as the ground seemed to start shaking below them.  
"There are thousands." Bloodhound said sending out their sonar and getting so many hits it almost sent their vision into overdrive.  
"Firing." Bangalore said. A hail of gunfire rained down from the tower. 

"We're going to run out of ammo before we even make a dent."  
"Make every shot count."  
"To the left there climbing up." The shouts from the others were almost as defining as the sound of gun fire. Real gun fire, not the sound of the fake ones they usually had. Loba ran back quickly and threw down her staff.

"Ammo here come on." She yelled picking up all the light ammo she could, as several of the other did the same. Loba knew there was only going to be so much in the area and soon her ability would be useless. sliding back to the edge and aiming her Wingman at the closest Prowler. Two shots and it was down, the next one fell the same, and the one after that, but there was more behind. 

"Reloading." She shouted backing up and Letting Mirage take over with his prowler. It chopped down a dozen before he had to step back and reload also. Looking back down, Loba noticed that the beasts were now stacking up against one another to get up the side of the tower. The effect made them easier to pick off, but they were gaining height much faster than any of them anticipated.

"Totem here." Revenant shouted as he descended into the throng of beasts and went crazy with his mastiff. So many of the prowlers flew backwards before the simulacrum succumbed to teeth and claws.  
He re-spawned behind them shaking himself slightly. Pulling out his gun and going back to the edge.  
"Looked like fun, think I'll have a go." Octane said diving into the totem then off the edge like some kind of super hero.  
"I guess in for a penny." Mirage said looking at Loba who wide eyed stared at him, and just for a moment he thought she was going to try and stop him. She said nothing though and Elliot went for it.

Knocking the beast back with his R-99, Mirage hit out at everything he could, then when he ran out of ammo he hit out with his fists, before one of them grabbed his midsection and flung him against the wall.  
It was a strange feeling coming back, it always was, but Elliot was glad that not a second after the pain from the wall breaking his spine he was back standing in the tower. D.O.C already in position for the returning fighters.

"I am Blufhound." The cry came before anyone could stop them. As Bloodhound tore through the throng of Prowlers that were now tipping the edge of their safe zone. Their gun rang out bullets, as the creatures death cries reverberated around the tower.  
"Nooo." Wattson cried as she fired into the mass of bodies hoping she did not hit her friend. It took only seconds for everyone else to join in. Converging on the single section of Prowlers, beating them back until they were once again at the base of the tower and clawing at each other to get back up.  
"Bloodhound!" Wraith cried looking down but not seeing the tracker.   
"Setting a portal." she said and was gone, dropping off the tower like a stone. All the rest could do was watch as the woman ran around the bodies, and the very much still alive Prowlers.   
"Portal set." came over the comm as Wraith was no longer visible, and the room for one unearthly moment was silent. No one spoke, no one fired their gun. No one even dared breath.  
"Listen." Lifeline said as a rushing wind seemed to come towards them, a slight puff of air and then Wraith and Bloodhound were before them. The tracker was holding their arm, but was standing on their own two feet.  
"That was very brave, but damm stupid." Wattson said shaking her head at her friend as Lifeline came over and patched up the tracker. It was a few moments before they noticed the sound.  
"Their coming again." Bangalore said pulling out her Havoc rifle and letting loose.   
"Opening the skies." Gibraltar called as he threw is bomb. The sound of Gibraltar air strike was like music to Loba's ears, and it was quickly followed up by Bangalore's.   
"I think we are almost there." Bangalore said as the smoke cleared and they could all see that the Prowlers below had been decimated. About fifty remained, and although that was great, the less numbers meant they had found their way into the building, and the stairway.  
"The fences will slow them down, but not for long." Wattson said as Revenant threw down his Totem again and passed into it.  
"Join me in the shadows." He called as Octane, Bangalore, Caustic and Wraith all went into the Totem. then moved down the stairs and the battle continued. Loba watched as Gibraltar moved forward, before she called to him.  
"No you stay here with Wattson, Crypto and Lifeline. We need to keep those fences up, and know if anything else is coming our way. Also some of us made need a medic." Loba said with a small smile as she looked to Pathfinder and Mirage, who both gave her curtious nods.  
"I am with you friend." Pathfinder said as he went into the Totem and then quickly down the stairs.  
"Good luck." Mirage said as he too went into the Totem and his hand briefly touched hers as she felt the Totem take over her body.  
"I hate this thing." She said under her breath and mostly to herself, but the look Mirage gave her suggested he had heard every word, and had agreed.

The stairway was like a dark cavern. Sounds were all encompassing, that nothing could be heard clearly. Mussel flashes, snapping jaws, and cries of pain all merged into one, until Loba heard nothing. Pointing her gun at anything with teeth she fired, bodies fell at her feet. Wraith she thinks crashes into her back, a muttered apology in her ear, as she picks up the fallen woman. Then more shouting more gun fire, then pain, all encompassing pain around her left thigh. Teeth tearing at flesh and muscle, claws scraping at her back. Half turning half bending, she stuck her gun into the things throat and fired. the pain was still there but the teeth were gone.  
"Look out." A shout came and Loba turned raising her gun she knew she was going to be too late, the Prowler was already in the air leaping for her. Then a flash of metallic paint, the sound of metal on concrete, and sparks of disconnecting circuits.   
"No you don't." A cry came from behind Loba then as Bangalore raced past her and fired on the final prowler. Finishing it with one bullet, and silence filled the dark space.   
Loba looked down saw the blood and felt somewhat feint. Her vision started to swim, and she placed her hand on the wall beside her.  
"Is it over?" She almost whispered as the world faded to black, but at the last flash of consciousness Loba realised that her death protection had run out.

Mirage got there just in time before Loba struck the floor. Catching her he was horrified by the blood coming from the wound in her thigh. It had painted her white pants scarlet, and was now spreading to the top of her boot.  
"We need to get her upstairs." Mirage called as Caustic came over, and quickly flung her over his shoulder like a rag doll.  
"Help them, I will get her to Ajay." Caustic said moving quickly up the stairs as Elliot turned around and as Wraith and Bangalore pulling Pathfinders broken body up off the floor between them. They had been the only ones to make it though the battle, everyone else had re-spawned at the totem.   
Mirage ran forward and helped life the robot. He was still awake, still stuttering, but his circuits were severely damaged.  
"Come on lets get him some help." Bangalore said pulling them up the staircase and onto the third floor of the tower where everyone was waiting for them.  
They placed Pathfinder gently down on the floor and Ajay ran over, leaving D.O.C with Loba for the time being, and quickly pumping a revive syringe into the robots chest. It had no effect.  
"Come on come on." Lifelife cried as she tried again.  
"It's ok friend." Pathfinder said, his voice box cracking and sparking as he did so.  
"Let me try?" Wattson said rubbing her hands together, hoping her electrical charge would re-establish some of the robots circuits. Ajay stepped back and watched as Wattson tried twice with no success to raise their fallen comrade.  
"It's no good, to keep attempting to save him would be pointless." Caustic said, his voice soft but firm, as Loba limped towards them. Coming to stand over Pathfinder, she knelt down beside him and placed her hand on his metal shoulder.  
"Thank you." Her voice was no more than a whisper as Pathfinders hand came up and covered her own.

"You are most welcome friend." He replied as the light finally died on his chest display and he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"We need to move from here." Loba said, her eyes scanning the other Legends and noticing how they had drifted apart from one another. His death, though saddened her, and she would forever be grateful for his sacrifice, was not going to be the undoing of this group. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Loba knew this was not going to be their last lost.  
"What do you mean move? We all agreed, this was the best place." Lifeline said stepping forward and moving from her position against the wall, to a more central location.  
"Loba is right this is no longer a viable location." Caustic chimed in, and for a brief second Loba could see an apology in his eyes.  
"Yeah compadre, they don't call this the cage for nothing." Octane chimed in, as Crypto stepped forward.  
"It is still the most defendable location on the map, I say we stay and fortify our defenses." He placed his hands back into his pockets and moved closer to Ajay, as if to stand united.

"They know where we are now, if we don't move their next offensive maybe more calculated." Gibraltar said, now having sided with Caustic he joined him looking at the two younger Legends.  
"I can put up more fences, Crypto can get better detection with his drone, we talked about this." Wattson said, and although the discussion was heated, at least they were talking again. Loba was pleased, she did not want them to fall apart now. they could not if they were going to take down Hammond.  
"We choose this place and it didn't work, Path is dead, and Loba almost went the same way. We move." Banglore finally said, silencing everyone, who had began to chatter over one another. The solider was a woman of few words, but when she said something, everyone listened.

"Where?" Wraith asked as she finally stepped out of the shadows and moved to join her teammates.

"I have a suggestion faly fighters, we must make use of the land we have. meeting these creatures on open ground would be fool hardy, but we could make them use the open ground to get to us. I suggest the water treatment plant. There is much cover there, lots of high ground, we may take advantage in it' small corridors." The tacker looked around the room, waiting for any objections, as none came Wraith stepped into the doorway.  
"Lets go, we don't want to be caught outside if these things come back." She moved down the stairs, not bothering to see if anyone had followed her, she knew they had she could feel them all at her back. one behind the other filing down the staircase, guns at the ready. No one was going to believe they were safe, not for a long time anyway.

There was a sadness at leaving Pathfinders body up there in the tower, but Elliot wasn't going to dwell on it too much, it was too painful, also he was keeping a close eye on Loba, who was visibly limping. Especially when the ground with uneven. She was usually like a cat leaping from rock to rock, with no effort, especially in those ridiculous boots. Now her breath came in sort sharp gasps and she was leaning heavily on her uninjured left leg.  
"Hey how about a break, and a restock?" Mirage suggested as they passed close to the market.  
"A most reasonable suggestion." Caustic said quickly going off towards the building followed by Lifeline, Wattson, Octane and Bangalore. Loba went to move and Mirage placed his hand on his shoulder.  
"Why don't you just stick down your market for the rest of us. don't want everyone copped up in that building." He said with a look that told Loba he wasn't going to argue.  
"Fine." she said quickly putting down her staff and watching as it expanded. Ammo was really the only thing they were after, that and basic med kits and shield battery's. It was pretty apparent after running through the inventory, that there was plenty of ammo, but almost no basic supply's.  
"Hey you guys having trouble finding med kits and battery's?" Mirage asked over the comms, his voice stable but a nagging worry began to sir at the pit of his stomach.  
"Yeah compadre, I've been all over this place, found only one shield cell." Octane replied, the sound of his metal legs could be heard over the comm's and it was obvious that he was running at full speed.  
"I have also had no luck in locating those supplies." Caustic interned, as he came of of the market and approached them. He seemed cautious, but not to the point where Mirage wanted to look behind him.  
"We must go, something doesn't feel right." Wraith said over the comms, her voice crackling as something interfered with the signal. This had never happened before, and that nagging feeling in Mirage's stomach tightened.

"Heard, lets move people." Bangalore said now running for the group gathered just outside the market, and scanning the area with her sniper.  
It took only a few moments for the rest of them to regroup, they all moved off at speed towards the water treatment plant. It soon became obvious what was different. the sky started to darken, the wind picked up almost to the point where they could no longer hear each others shouts.  
"It's a storm." Wattson shouted as a almost concussing clap of thunder sounded above them. Loba almost shouted at the young woman for pointing out the obvious, but she was more in favour of tucking her arms into her sides and running like hell, as the skies opened and a deluge of rain cascaded down on them.  
The temptation to use her jump drive and get to dry ground was almost palpable, but Loba resisted the urge, knowing that leaving her team could be suicidal, she had no idea if something was waiting for them. The plant was also in view now and it wouldn't be long before she would be dry again. Her leg was throbbing now, it was almost beyond what she could continue with, but Loba knew she had no choice.  
It was pretty obvious, that either these wounds were far worst that what she had sustained in the past, or the med kits were no longer as effective. The latter seemed more reasonable, as usually a res syringe would have brought Pathfinder back, no matter what his injuries. Loba had seen the Legends with holes in the chests, that had come back and continued fighting. Now although her leg was not bleeding, and the holes were kitted together, there was still a lot of muscle damage, deep bruising that was causing her leg to cramp up.  
Mirage realised that he and Loba were falling further behind, and the woman seemed to be almost hopping across the ground as they finally felt the hard concrete under their feet.  
"Use your drive, go." he shouted to her above the crash of thunder, but the woman merely ignored him and kept running. He felt like throwing her over his shoulder and sprinting the rest of the way to the buildings, but he was sure she would kill him for it. With less than fifty yards to go, Loba finally crashed down, her leg buckling over the stairway into the plant.  
"Go I've got her." Mirage called as Gibraltar stooped and turned back towards them. he had been the closest as Loba fell, her hands catching her fall before her face met the concrete. Mirage quickly grabbed her by the waist his hands tightly gripping her, as if to let her know this was not up for debate. scooping her up of the floor into a bridal carry he ran for the building, up the stairs and onto the second floor where the rest of the Legends stood. dripping went and panting hard.  
"Thank you handsome, but you can put me down now." Loba's voice was sweet, but there was an edge to it that Mirage knew not to argue with. Placing her back on her feet, and somewhat regretting the loss of her weight in his arms, Elliot watched as Ajay came over and inspected the wounds on Loba's leg.  
Her pants were still pretty red, but the rain had muted the scarlet colour to more of a rose pink.  
"Looks like there is some real internal damage, I don;t know if i can fix it." Ajay then said and with that one line everyone knew they were in serious trouble.

A few moments passed before Gibraltar broke the silence.  
"We must eat, keep up our strength." He pulled his backpack off his shoulder and dug out all the bread and meat he hack packed in there. Someone's stomach rumbled, and Mirage didn't know who it belong to until he saw Wattson looking embarrassed.  
"Sorry I didn't eat much last night, nerve's you know." She explained, but Mirage knew what she was saying, he too had only picked at his dinner, and now the smell of the food was making him very hungry.  
"Recon first, we need to know how safe we are." Bangalore said turning to Crypto who was already preparing his drone.  
"I have my eye in the sky." He said followed by a few tense minutes silence.  
"Nothing, i see no enemies in sight, but my range has been decreased becasue of the storm." He said as he watched his screen and the glow illuminated his somewhat pale face.  
"Recalling my drone. I think for now we are ok." He said coming back into the room, and taking a seat against the wall.  
Gibraltar handed out the rations, everyone sat in somewhat of a circle, leaning against the wall and listening to the sound of the rain beating down on the roof. No one mentioned the fact that it had never rained in Kings canyon, no one needed to, they all knew this was on purpose. The control that Hammond had over the arena was now almost frightening as another clap of thunder boomed over head, and a flash of lightning lit up everyone's face for a brief moment. They all looked the same. Afraid.

"Is it getting dark?" Lifeline said after quite a long period of silence. It wasn't like they didn't have anything to say, no there was more than enough to talk about, but no one wanted to bring up the elephant in the room.  
"I think so, I guess we aren't in the arena long enough to see nigh time here." Gibraltar said standing up and scanning the area.  
"I'm not sure that's entirely sure beautiful." Loba said from her seat next to Elliot. she was sitting good leg bent, bad leg outstretched, trying to keep the cramp at bay.  
"Oh what makes you say that?" Crypto asked curiously, as he too suspected things here were being orchestrated, well beyond the things that were coming after them.  
Loba took a deep breath, she guessed now was as good a time as any. Here in the dark, most of her team full of despair over Pathfiners death, there was only one thing left, the desire to live. If they didn't aim for the third, they would surely be left with the first two.  
"I think Hammond knows exactly who they want to win this thing, they will manipulate the situation until we are all dead, or at least the ones they want gone. I don't think we can fight it by just killing whatever comes after us. I think we need to strike them at their heart, go for the control rooms." Loba's speech was met with an eerie silence, she didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.  
"Going after me again girlie, you think you can do it this time." Revenant finally said his voice was full of humor, but Loba knew the simulacrum was not as confident as he sounded.  
"That would only be a bonus." She snapped at him as she looked at Elliot who was just staring at her, with a look that told her he wasn't quite convinced.  
"I agree. Hammond has total control of us down here, we can't compete properly under these circumstances." Crypto said, somewhat surprising Loba, but on the other hand maybe not. Crypto always seemed the most against the establishment. It would be beneficial to him also to see what Hammond had down there in those labs.  
"One thing." Bangalore said now standing and beginning pacing the room. it was slightly unnerving, but then Loba realised the woman was simply working out the stiffness from her limbs. It was cold in the room, and not only because the temperature had dropped significantly since the sun went down, but they were all still pretty wet.  
"What?" Crypto asked leaning against the wall again, and folding his hands in his laps.  
"How do we even get down there, it's sealed. Not with a door, but a hundred tonnes of rock." Anita replied now looking around the room her eyes finally landing on Loba. The woman looked drawn, she was obviously hurting, but Anita knew she had no time to feel sorry for her right now.  
Walking over to her Anita bent down and crouched next to her, there was something telling Anita that demanding an answer from this woman, would only bring resistance.  
"You got down there, you were inside, how did you do it?" She asked resisting the urge to touch Loba, but keeping her voice soft and low, as the rest of the room waited on bated breath.  
"I teleported in, through a crack in the mountain. I don't know if I can do it again, but I will bet money on there being another way in. Hidden defiantly, difficult to get to almost certainly, but I know there must be away. They have to have an emergency escape plan, incase of fire, or some other disaster. If we find it, we can end this our way, not theirs." Loba continued, feeling Anita's body heat now as she was almost sitting on her. It was both comforting and disconcerting at the same time. Loba's urge to get up and move was strong, but she remained, waiting for the rest of the team to decide what they wanted to do.

"I say we go for it." Elliot finally said feeling like the room way swaying in the latino's favour, but also wanting deeply to support her.  
"You would say that compare, you want in her pants." Octane said folding his arms and running on the spot.  
"What no I mean, hey I just think it's a good plan." Elliot said having been caught off guard by the statement.  
"In wouldn't worry brother, I don't think you're the only one. The question is can we do it with out getting ourselves killed." Gibraltar said a smile om his face, as Anita moved away from Loba trying not to attract too much attention. She wasn't ready for her feelings to come under scrutiny from the group, she didn't even know how she felt herself.  
"I don't know, but maybe we figure that out when the time comes. We aren't going to be moving tonight, so I suggest we get some rest, two on watch at all times, no lone wolfing it." Wraith finally said stepping away from the wall she had been leaning on and moving off into a corner and raising her gun.  
"I'll go first." she said waiting to see who was going to join her. She didn't have to wait long before Bloodhound moved silently beside her and the rest of the squad started to turn in for the night.

It was dark, so very dark when Ajays hand fell on her shoulder, waking her form what felt like the worlds most uncomfortable sleep. Opening her eyes, Loba blinked the sleep from them, she then realised why she was so uncomfortable. Her head had fallen on to Elliot's lap, but now was cocked at a funny angle as his body had slumped down beside her.  
"Hey, your turn." Ajay said with a small smile, that Loba could see in the darkness, but not much else.  
"Ok let me sit up before you wake sleeping beauty and I get a broken neck." Loba said moving her body up stiffly as Mirage stirred at her absence.  
"Huh, what Ajay what the?" Mirage said waking suddenly at the loss of pressure and looking directly into Ajay's eyes.  
"Time for your watch, hope you got a good sleep." Ajay said with a wink before returning to her sleeping area, which wasn't more than a cold hard floor and her backpack for a pillow.  
"Ready?" Loba asked as she stood up and tested her weight on her bad leg. it was stiff but the pain wasn't as acute, more a dull throb, and she hoped she was starting to heel.  
"Sure you sure you're ok?" He asked moving over to the window with her and scanning the area through his gun-site.  
"I;ll live beautiful, for now at least." She replied as she moved to the other window. Her figure was a dark silhouette, it made Elliot stop for a moment, the woman was all soft curves and hard edges, it was hard not to look, especially when he was pretty sure for once he wasn't being observed. Loba was all business right now, looking out of the window, keeping watch. Elliot allowed himself this indulgence for a few more moments, before he decided that this was not healthy for any of them, he would never forgive himself if he missed an oncoming threat, because he was staring where he shouldn't. Turning back to the window he briefly thought back to when loba had laid her head in his lap to sleep, and for that one second he had seen her, her real self, and he realised that the woman was lonely. An island in the middle of a storm, barely kept in check by her sense of class. He had fallen asleep gently stroking her hair.

Loba watched, nothing moved, the rain was lighter now, almost a fine mist that covered everything in a dewy gloss. her eyes saw loot, saw the first deep blue of daylight, but it wasn't the bright orange glow of a normal sunrise over Kings canyon, it was mottled, deep burgundy around the edges. The silence grew, it enveloped everything Loba could see, she had never heard such a silence, no wind, no animal noises, even the rain was creating no sound as it lightly fell beyond the window.  
Loba shuddered, there was something in the air, something bad, it was almost like nature it'self was frightened.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Round 2 commencing"

The announcement woke everyone, except Crypto and Revenant. They had been on final watch, Revenant had been perched on the roof, scanning the area, yet not really paying attention. He had been awoken by Mirage as the sun was just starting to come up, he was hoping that Loba would be the one to come to him, he had been awake for ages anticipating the conversation he could have with her. He should have known better, she never spoke to him unless she had to. 

Revenant did not know why but this truly saddened him, Now as he watched everyone get to their feet guns ready his eyes scanned for her. She was in the corner packing up her gear, loading her gun, and getting ready to fight. Nothing unusual, but he also noted that she still was not walking right. There was a slight hitch in her stride as she followed the others outside and up to his position.

"You see anything?" Banglore asked him and Revenant just grunted, he wasn't in the mood for the brash solider this morning.  
"Any one got anything?" Banglore called to the group, her eyes scanning the area even as she asked.  
"Logging on to my drone." Crypto replied as Banglore noted that any sign of last nights storm had gone. the ground was bone dry, the slight wind blew the sand up around the structures, and the sun's glare was effecting her vision.  
"I can't see anything." Crypto said as he continued to scan, his eyes roaming everything his drone was looking at.  
"Is it me or is it very hot?" Wattson said from her position beside Bloodhound. The tracker turned to her and nodded.  
"The sun is indeed strong today." They said moving back into the shade of the building, though they enjoyed the anonymity that their mask gave them, it was a little uncomfortable in the rising heat of the day.

"You see anything yet?" Banglore shouted, seeming to be getting impatient. Loba was not surprised, she knew the woman was not good at waiting. She felt the sweat rolling off her now, it ran in dribbles down her back, as she stood in the direct line of the sun, keeping her eyes peeled on the horizon.

"Something isn't right, it's too hot and nothing is coming." Lifeline said as she moved back into the shade, wiping the perspiration off her forehead.  
"All a bunch of weak skin suits, your bodies can't cope with a little sunlight." Revenant said with a small chuckle, and he could almost feel the hatred coming from behind him. Turning he saw her, her colour was high, her face was shiny with perspiration, and her eyes were hard and fiery. Finally and surprisingly it was the last thing he noticed, her Wingman was pointed at his head.

"I could do it you know, It would almost be worth it, except I know they will bring you back." She said her voice low almost a whisper. It was in that moment Revenant knew why he felt so many different emotions for the Latino. He was a man, at least his mind was, and he knew the woman was attractive, but it was more than that it was the spirit she had inside, a spirit he had had a hand in creating. Yet he was a machine, and could do little about this new found infatuation. It irked him beyond belief, especially in this moment.  
"Kill me then, you can only hope to live long enough to see me return." Revenant replied his voice just as low, and he saw a flash of doubt cross the woman's face.  
"Not now robot, but soon I promise you that." She said finally lowering her gun and retreating back inside with the others. Revenant sat on his perch, he had no need to get out of the heat, he couldn't feel it, he couldn't really feel anything physical any more. there was pain, but that was all. Except now there was something else, a burning a longing. He shook himself, stood up and watched as waves of heat rose up from the buildings around him. This was going to get interesting.

"Are they trying to boil us alive, none of us can live though this heat." Banglore said pulling of her tunic, and replacing her body shield over her plain white tank. Wraith had pulled off her scarf and also stripped down to her undershirt. Everyone had, accept Blood hound and Loba, she had nothing to remove. Her suit left no room for anything underneath, all she could do was remove the jacket, leaving herself in just the bodice. She was still far too warm, stuffing her jacket in her backpack, she looked around at her companions. Everyone was splayed out on the metal floor, but now that was even starting to heat up.  
"We need to get to some water now." She called as Wattson behind her stood up and started skipping on her shoe less feet.  
"Ouch hot hot hot." She said as Caustic picked her up quickly and the french woman thanked him and put her shoes back on.  
"Setting a portal." Wraith called, as the woman disappeared and Loba watched as the woman made her way to the water sumps outside.

"Portal set. NOOOOO" The scream came just before anyone followed her. Loba watched as splashing came up from the water, and she realised what was wrong.  
"The water it must be boiling. Hold on, jump drive out." Loba shouted, knowing that this was going to hurt she dropped into the water right next to Wraith. Grabbing her and ignoring the searing pain up her thigh she quickly dragged the woman into the portal.  
Emerging, Loba was grateful for her long boots, they had protected most of her from the boiling water. Wraith was not so lucky, she had been in it far longer, and had no protection on her legs.  
"I'm here, it's ok I've got you." Ajay said as she deployed D.O.C and held on to wraith as she lay on the floor. It wasn't much cooler than outside now, and as Wraith heeled Caustic walked over to her.  
"That was very brave, you now must heel yourself for the journey." He said placing a hand on her shoulder and pointing to her thigh which seemed to be bleeding a little again. She was just about to ask him what journey but it was too late the man had gone.

"We must head to the river, it is free flowing and will be cooler than those sumps. If we do not we will all die." Caustic then said to the room, as everyone half nodded, the heat starting to make them all lethargic.  
"We should use the jump towers, faster the better." Octane spoke up as he pointed out the tower out of the window and everyone agreed. Moving as a single unit, led by Gibraltar they all headed up the jump tower.  
The breeze was at least nice up here, it whipped the sweat off Loba's face and the only problem was it was all over too soon. The ground rushed up below her, sand dusting up around her feet as she landed. The heat now crashing back down on her bare shoulders.  
"We need to move now." Octane said moving off at top speed, followed by Wraith who placed her portal down, hoping to spare her team mates at least some time in the sun. They all rushed in once the portal had been placed. It wasn't far now, but every stride was painful. Loba had no idea how Bloodhound was continuing on in all their get up. It was then she heard the shouts. They sounded muffled, but she knew everyone was mere feet from her. Turning her head span as she saw Wattson on the floor, Gibraltar was picking her up and forcing her on wards.  
"It's ok he's got her keep moving." Mirage said taking Loba by the upper arm and almost dragging her along.  
"What are we going to do if the river is boiling too." Loba huffed out as the river came into view, and Mirage stopped in his tracks. He had no desire to burn himself alive.  
"I don't know?" He replied as everyone else seemed to stop beside them, also weary of what might be waiting for them.  
"I will go." Revenant then said surprising everyone as he moved forward and into the water. Even though he could not feel the temperature, his internal sensors were indicating that the water was a cool 60'f

"It's safe." He said moving off, and watching as the rest of his squad dunked themselves underwater, clothes and all.

Loba floated on her back, the water wasn't deep enough to really submerge ones self in, but the cool water felt wonderful on her over heated skin. She felt her eyes closing in the pure bliss of it, she had been so close to simply collapsing. Now though the sun was bearable, at least within the cool confinement of the river.  
"Thank god this place wasn't compromised." Banglore then said walking over to her, water running off her short cropped hair and plastering her t-shirt to her skin. Loba didn't mention that she could see the soldiers underwear. It was in the grand scheme of things pretty unimportant.  
"Yes, I have a feeling that all of this is a trial, not just the prowlers, but the storms, the heat, there is a solution to everything, we just have to find it." Loba said now sitting upright, allowing the water to flow around her waist.  
"I think you could be right, but we can't fight the weather, it would be like blowing smoke through a keyhole." Banglore replied, taking a knee beside her as the others seemed to gravitate towards them.  
"We have no idea what they are going to throw at us next. we cannot prepare for the unknown." Lifeline joined in as she sat next to Banglore and Octane stood next to her. His eyes constantly on the skyline.

"I guess we just have to deal with it when it comes brothers, we are fighters we can handle it." Gibraltar replied as he too took a knee around the gathered group and they all kept under the water as much as possible. it was still unbearably hot outside, and they knew they would have to remain here until either it passed, or the sun went down.  
"He's right, this is what we do, when we land in the area, we never know what is going to happen, what guns we get, who is around us, we deal with it as we go. Now more than ever we have to work together, we can defeat this." Wraith said her hair falling into her eyes as she suddenly turned around, aware of some change.  
"What is it?" Banglaore asked noticing the change in demeanor from the woman, and knowing immediately that something was wrong.  
"I don't know, but I think something might be coming." Wraith said scanning the sky but seeing nothing but bright sunlight.

Everyone stood up now, moving around the river to try and get a view of the surrounding area. Loba moved off to an out cropping of rocks, climbing up quickly, not feeling too much pain in her leg, she turned and looked around. There was nothing, but she sure did have a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.  
"See anything girllie?" Revenant's voice grated on her as she spotted him already on a rock above her. He must have already been there, as she had not seen him climb up, or down by the river with the group.  
"You know I can't, you can see better than I can." She snapped at him, she didn't care that she was treating him badly, she had zero reason to be nice to him.  
"You're right, but I like to here you say it." He said a slight glee to his voice, and this above his usual arrogant tone made Loba shake with frustration. She went to climb down, to get out of the creatures way, but a cold hard hand on her upper arm stopped her.  
"Get your claws off me." She hissed at him trying to wrench her arm free, but only succeeding in making him tighten his grip.  
"You may want to think about how you speak to me girllie, soon I may be your only chance of survival." Revenant said his eyes boring holes into hers as she looked back at him.  
"Is that a threat?" She asked him, truly not knowing if it was or not.  
"maybe one day you will find out." Revenant replied the smile in his voice obvious, as then Mirage came up the rock, his gun out and a worried look on his face.  
"Hey you guys ok up here?" He asked watching as Revenant let go of Loba, his hand retracting slowly as he sat back on his rock.  
"It's fine, come on let's go find the others." Loba said realising that the rest of the group seemed to have moved off down the river. Bangalore was hanging back with Gibraltar, they seemed to be in deep conversation, but Loba was too far away to here exactly what it was. Just as she was about to ask Mirage what was going on, another announcement sounded.

"Commencing round 3."

Everyone froze, the group at the far end of the river turned to Loba and the others, there was about 200 yards between them, but right now it seemed like a vast casum.  
"Flyers hundreds of them." Mirage shouted then, and everyone looked up.  
"But they can't do anything, they just fly about carrying the loot boxes." Gibraltar said somewhat confused, as the a rain of fire seemed to surround them.  
"Don't be so sure." Bangalore shouted diving for cover under the water. There was no time to get their guns out, no time for anything, as fire rained down all around them. Loba couldn't tell in what direction she was running, she was following Mirage, who was following Gibraltar, and Banglore was leading the way. Looking up she spotted some of the wooden huts, no good they would burn. Anita seemed to have the same idea as she dove left and avoided the buildings. Running for the tunnel, Loba quickly got the idea of where they were going, and she put all her effort into sprinting, as another ball of fire landed mere inches from her face. A strong grip reached out and pulled her back before she ran into another fire ball. Her body snapped back sharply, her neck wrenched, but she was still here, not BBQ. Turning to thank whomever it was she suddenly found herself face to face with the simulacrum. Her eyes turned hard and she shook him off.  
"Come on." She said finally knowing he had probably just saved her life, the acerbic remark she was about to make died on her tongue. The feeling of triumph coming from the daemon made her feel sick to the stomach, but there was little she could do about it now. Finally sliding into cover under the mountain Loba fought to catch her breath. The noise coming from outside was deafening, fire struck everything in site, and she could see nothing but a wall of flames as she looked beyond the walls.  
"Do you think the others made it?" Mirage asked as he came over to her, examining her to make sure she was ok.  
"I'm not sure we even made it yet." Loba replied as another barrage of fire balls struck the mountain. Dust and small pieces of rock fell around them, Loba covered her eyes as the dust stuck to her damp skin. Wiping off the offending particles, she looked up feeling a vibration coming from the walls.  
"I think it's going to come down." She shouted as Gibraltar shouted to them.  
"Come on over here, shield's up." he shouted as they all gathered under the dome. With a rattle, a shake and a tremendous boom the cave started to come down. It bounced off the shield, blocking their view of anything beyond it. Loba couldn't help but grasping Mirage's hand, as Gibraltar took hold of her other hand, pulling them all in closer to huddle under the dome's protection. There was something about having this connection with her team right now, Although she did not know these people well, she needed them right now. Loba guessed that in the end nobody wanted to die alone.

"We have to fight." Caustic said as they camped out in one of the metal buildings by the cascades. pulling out hid gas canister he stepped to the window.  
"You put that away ya here me, you want to bow us all to kingdom come." Lifeline said grabbing the mans hand as he shook his own head.  
"Sorry of course, we need to do something, who knows how long these buildings will last." He said quickly putting away his canister and looking around the room to see if anyone else had any suggestions.  
"We have no idea where the others are, if they are ok, we need to do something, we have to find them." Wattson said then holding on to Bloodhound who was keeping her safe in the circle of their arms.  
"We must wait, we have to be smart about this. There is only six of us now. Gather what ordinance we have, we have to take this to the roof, we can't win hiding in here." Wraith said moving to the door, and running with her portal.  
"Portal set."  
The six Legends went through the portal, each rushing to a corner of the building and beginning the bombardment of grenades and thermites on the flyers. the sudden onslaught seemed to put the beast off, they flew in circles, into each other and some into the surrounding trees.

"Opening fire." Octane shouted as he let loose with his R-99, most of the Legends followed, picking off every flyer in the sky. for a brief moment it looked like they were going to take the creatures down easily, then the sky darkened. A huge flyer came over the mountain, its wing span creating a down draft that almost blew them off the roof.  
"Inside now!" Wraith shouted, her voice almost lost in a torrent of noise as the creature released a fireball that seemed to encompass the entire sky. Making it back inside Wraith turned around to see everyone already hunkered down in a corner, she rushed over to join them as the building shook, and the metal walls almost seemed to glow with the heat.  
"Hold on." some on shouted as Wraith clung to Octane as he was the nearest, someone had grabbed hold of her hand but she had no idea who it was.  
"We need to get out of here, the building it's going to blow." Caustic yelled over the noise, as the turrets holding the building started the buckle.  
"I will end this." Bloodhound shouted, as they set off eyes glowing and body quick sharp and gun ready.  
"Bloodhound no." Lifeline called as the tracker rushed out of the door, their figure disappearing into a haze of smoke and fire. There was nothing they could do for them now, it was their choice. Wraith felt a pang of regret, and also pride, if only she could be so brave when it came the time. Her thoughts were gone in an instant as there was a sudden silence, their cue to go, the chance Bloodhound had given them to live. Wraith ran for the door, only preying that the tracker would be able to do the same.

Thank you all for the kudos and the continued support for this story, more to come soon.....


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

They were once again on the back of the beast, their heart however remained steady in their chest. They were not afraid, they knew when it was their time the all father would take them, until then, they could protect their friends. Leaping up and clutching the beast around it's neck, they attempted to shoot it in the back of its head. The hide was too thick however for the bullets to penetrate it. The beast shook, flying in no particular pattern trying to dislodge its unwanted passenger.

Bloodhound pulled out their knife, stabbing it into where they thought the jugular was, but the knife was not large enough to cause any real damage, all Bloodhound had managed to do was piss the beast off.  
"Good my friends can live another day, concentrate on me sky beast, for I know you, I know what you want." Bloodhound intoned as they pulled out their axe and raised it above their head. "I honor those who've risen, not those who have fallen." Bloodhound cried as they drove the axe deep into the beasts neck. This time the creature let out a scream, it twisted in the air, only widening the wound Bloodhound had inflicted. Blood poured from the hole and covered Bloodhound in a warm crimson liquid. It was making it harder for Bloodhound to hang on, but they did so as the beast started to plummet downwards, its wings flapping almost uselessly as the ground seemed to rush up below them, and yet Bloodhound hung on, they would not let go until this came to its conclusion, one way or another.

Wraith was tired, hot and so out of breath, she was wheezing as she sucked in breath though her parted lips. They had run until finally Caustic called for them to stop and take cover in the bunker. They all dived inside, event though they had not heard any more from the giant flyer, none of them had believed it was over.  
Crypto closed the door, and sagged against it, his body almost slumping to the floor, weather it was the sprint across nearly half the map, or the adrenaline wearing off, Wraith didn't know, but she sure felt drained, almost completely numb both physically and emotionally. She looked around now at the faces in the room. Just six of them left, out of thirteen, for a second Wraith felt and undeniable rage at the loss.

'They aren't dead' a voice sounded in her head, as she looked around her at the pale and dejected faces.  
"Do you think they are ok, Bloodhound I mean?" Wattson said then, and for a moment there was only silence. That silence said more than anyone ever could. Wattson just nodded her head and went back to sit down next to Caustic, who placed his arm around her and pulled her in close.  
"What about the others, do you think they made it?" Octane asked quickly trying to move the conversation on.  
"There not dead, i'm pretty sure." Wraith spoke up quickly, she didn't know why she had said it, hope can be a dangerous thing, especially when their lives depended on every decision they made at the moment.  
"How can you be so sure?" Crypto asked pulling his knees up to his chest and looking at her.  
"I'm not I just have a feeling that if they were all gone I would know." Wraith said, and no one mentioned Bloodhounds name, no one wanted to know, it was easier to think they might have made it than know for sure.

"Can you drone for them? Lifeline asked then as the woman stood up and began to pace the room, nervous energy pouring off her in waves. Wraith felt it as though it were her own and wanted to copy her friend. Forcing herself to remain still, Wraith saw Crypto shaking his head.  
"My drone was destroyed, and it does not seem to have recharged." The news was only getting worse, the health kits and shields were no longer working like they used to, now it seemed that their ability had been compromised as well.  
"Does everyone else have their ultimate ability?" Crypto asked then, as everyone nodded except Wraith. Her portal had been stuck on 30% charge for what seemed like forever, and she expected it to stay that way for a while longer.  
"I think we can assume that things are only going to get more difficult as the rounds continue, we must prepare for the next battle." Caustic said standing now and helping Wattson off the floor.  
"How we have no way of knowing what is coming." Lifeline said now stopping and looking out the window through the closed door.  
"We do what we always do, we fight." Octane said joining her at the doorway and peering out to what looked like a quite and desolate landscape. They all knew better.

When the dome went down, all that was left was rock. It was pitch black inside the cave, Loba quickly pulled out a few of her flares and lit them illuminating there srroundings, it created a bleak picture, all rocks and Loba couldn't see an obvious way out.

"Hey bruddah's at least we are still alive." Gibraltar said as he stood up and took in their somewhat bleak surroundings.

"Yeah buried alive is more like it." Banglaore replied patting the dust off her shirt and adjusting her body shield. She looked more flustered at her appearance than the fact that they were trapped. Loba thought this was interesting, but decided to bank it away for use at a later date. If there was a later date.  
"I'm sure there is a way through." Mirage said also standing up, he had let go of Loba's hand, but he didn't want to. Not only was it comforting to have her hold on to him so tightly, but there was some part of him, ok a big part, that wanted her to need, no need was the wrong word, wanted her to want him.

"It looks like we are stuck here, together." Revenant said a smile in his voice as he crouched down in a small cove in the rock face.  
"Couldn't you be helpful for once and try and shift some of these rocks, you must be stronger than us." Banglore glared at him, she had had just about enough of the Simulacrum.  
"I might be able to move a few, but not the larger ones, I am a killing machine, not a back hoe." He replied and too her surprise Loba found herself suppressing a laugh. Mentally slapping herself upside the head, she also glared at Revenant and folded her arms across her chest.

"Then I suggest we work together to see if we can't dig our way out of this, there must be gaps we can get through." Loba said turning to look at Elliot whom she knew was standing to her left. He hadn't moved far from her side since this all started, and although she was glad he was looking out for her, she didn't need him virtually sitting in her back pocket.  
"Yeah I mean we can't exactly stay here, well we could, but I don't know why we just can't actually." Mirage said caught off guard by Loba's look as she turned to him for support. His answer was obviously not what she wanted due to the slight frown on her face.  
"We can't stay because one, we will run out of food and water, and two we have to go see if any of the others made it, they maybe hurt or worse." Banglore stated as she prowled around the edge looking for a way through. It became obvious to Loba then that the woman maybe slightly claustrophobic. It was understandable, it was different when you knew you could get out, when you didn't it was another story.

"Maybe here." Banglore suddenly cried as her head and shoulders disappeared into a gap in the rocks. For a moment her body started going in, then she was stuck, her back side wiggled, twisted and pumped up and down, but there was no way it was fitting though that gap.  
"Damm it get me out!" She shouted as the rest of them held in the laughter they all wanted to let loose with. Maybe it was just the situation, but Loba suspected that if they didn't laugh they might start breaking down.  
"Ok ok I'm coming." Loba finally said realising that the boys might be a bit shy about grabbing the woman by her ass. Reaching Bangalore Loba grabbed the woman around the hips and started to pull her out. She was stuck good and fast, and Loba had to virtually brace herself against the rock, body pressed almost flushed with Anita as she tried to extract the woman.  
"How have you got this stuck?" Loba shouted as she tugged, but Banglore wasn't budging any further.

"I think my shoulder is wedged but I can't get it round to free it." Banglore replied her voice somewhat muffled, as she was now pressed tighter against the rock face. There was panic there though, a hitch in her voice, and now Loba was truly worried.  
"Some one grab my waist I need the anchor." Loba shouted, not really caring who it was. Then a pair of hands virtually encircled her middle as she was pulled clean off her feet.  
"Steady there big guy just brace me." Loba smiled back at Gibraltar as he placed her back on the ground.

"Got ya Buddah." He said now providing the counter traction she needed to haul Banglore backwards. The woman gave a soft cry as she came free. It was pretty obvious why when she emerged, arm hanging at an odd angle to her shoulder.  
"I think I dislocated it." She said looking down at her arm almost in disbelief.  
"We have to pop it back in, then you can have a med kit, it won't work if we don't fix the defection." Loba said placing herself behind the woman and motioning to Mirage to grab Banglore's other arm. Mirage did so, pulling it out at a right angle to the solider's body. Loba quickly pulled the injured arm up, and snapped it back into place. Banglore only uttered a single hiss as the joint popoed back into place.

"Thank you." Banglore said as Loba rounded on her and handed her a med kit. The woman said nothing but looked down at her with a mixture of concern and disapproval.  
"What were you thinking, you could have gotten yourself killed, we were just talking about working as a team." Loba said her hand coming out and gently touching Banglore on her uninjured arm. Anita tried not to both blush, and wrench away from the woman's hand. It was hard for her to feel this way, she didn't like this trapped feeling, this loss of control, but worse she didn't want Loba, or any of them thinking she was weak. Also and this was a disturbing little facet the woman's touch was giving her a little tingle down her spine. This was not appropriate for this situation, or in company.  
"I know, but no one seemed to be doing anything so I thought I would get on with it." Banglore said standing up now and looking Loba in the face. This felt better, there was something very disturbing about being stood over.  
"Ok I get the picture beautiful, we will all start looking for a way out, but no one try and go in until we have checked it out ok." Loba said turning to the rest as they all nodded at her, including Revenant who Loba looked at for just a moment before turning to the task at hand.

Lifeline sat in the dark with the others, they had moved from the bunker back towards the river. The sun had gone down again, and they had searched for any sign of their team mates until it was too dark to see any more. They had found nothing, not even bodies, and while this was a good thing, the fact that they hadn't found anything was not. They had no idea what happened to them when they died in the arena. Usually a death box would appear, and its occupant was taken to the drop ship. Pathfinder had not done this, as far as they knew his body was still high up in the cage. She leaned on D.O.C who still seemed to be functioning normally, and this was s good thing as no one had found any med kits or syringes on their searches.  
"You think they have found somewhere to lie low like us?" Wattson asked as she curled up next to Caustic who was looking down at his own hands.  
"I hope for their sake they have." He intoned as Lifeline sat her back to the wall of the building. She could hardly see her hand any more the darkness was so encompassing, it wasn't right, and Lifeline was starting to think that Loba and Crypto had been right from the start. There fight wasn't with the games, but the game makers.

The dome that Gibraltar had put down had formed almost a perfect semi circle of rock around them, and all the probing and digging around revealed no exit. The largest gap was the one Bangalore had tried to fit through earlier. They all stood looking at the narrow exit now, no one saying anything. No one wanting to.  
"Hey princess you think you could fit in there." Banglaore said turning to Loba who gave her a rye smile.  
"As much as I appreciate the complement, I am afraid that while parts of me may get through that gap, others would not be so lucky." Loba replied now turning and looking at Revenant.

"He might get through though." Loba said turning from him and speaking to Banglore, Revenant would have ground his teeth if he had any.  
"Careful girllie, anymore flattery and people will start to talk." He said, making sure he looked at her when he said it. She must have sensed him looking at her, for she tensed and turned her head so she could give him a final glare.  
"That is if he is willing to do it." Loba said to no one in particular this time, and Revenant felt a little twinge of power over the woman, just the way he liked it.  
"Maybe but you have to do something for me girllie." Revenant said with a sly tilt to his head as Loba turned fully towards him now, hands on her hips and shoulders square.  
"What is it demiono?" She said not looking impressed in the slightest.  
"You could say thank you, for saving your life." Revenant drawled and Loba seemed to deflate almost immediately. Her shoulders dropped and her hands fell from her hips.  
"Fine, thank you." She said, and Revenant could tell she at least meant it a bit. It was enough for now.  
"I will try, I have had enough of you skin suits anyway, time to leave." Revenant said unable to help himself as he got down on his hands and knees and attempted to drive his wide shoulders through the gap. He quickly realised that he would have to turn sideways, as his body was much narrower in that direction.  
"Can you see anything?" Bangalore asked as Reveant almost disappeared in the hole.  
"Yes I can see darkness." He replied chuckling to himself as his clawed hand felt nothing but air. There was a way through but he could not reach it, the gap narrowed to barely a few inches before it let out into the canyon.

"I mean it tin can is there a way out?" Banglore shouted then, her patients which was not her greatest feature at the best of times, was now exhausted.  
Revenant then emerged and stood upright, if anything the simulacrum looked unhappy, if he could even feel emotions. Loba thought as Revenant moved to lean against a rock.  
"There is a way out but it's only a few inches wide. I guess you're the only one who can escape this prison girllie." Revenant said looking at her now and everyone else did the same. Loba felt a huge weight resting on her shoulders, if she could get in the hole far enough to throw her bangle out, she could indeed escape.  
"Then what?" She asked out loud, and it seemed that everyone had been thinking the same thing as Mirage answered for her.  
"Then you could go get help, find the others." He said looking at her his eyes not looking away this time and Loba sighed.  
"What if there is no one left to find?" The statement silenced the cave, no one knew what to say to that, no one wanted to even think it, but the fact was Loba could be right, the rest of them could be dead, and then she would be alone. A fate worse than death. 

"Look could you get us all out, I mean if we held onto you or something?" Mirage asked then and Loba thought about it for a moment.  
"I don't know, but I suspect not, as when you teleport you are deconstructed at a molecular level, there is no way to know if we would all come out the other side, as well us." Loba replied finally and everyone nodded, but she could see the disappointment on their faces.  
"Then you have to go, we need supplies at least, and if you can get out, you can get back in. Take a quick look around, find help if you can, something to help move these rocks would be better. If not find water, and come back." Banglore said walking up to Loba and looking deep into her eyes. Banglore didn't want to force the woman to do this, but she also knew that Loba must do it, or they will all die.  
"Ok beautiful, and just in case I don't make it back." Loba said leaning forward and taking hold of Banglore's face she planted a soft kiss on the soldiers cheek. Anita felt herself blush to the tips of her toes, until Loba moved back out of her personal space.

"You too Gibby take care of them for me." Loba said giving the big guy a chased kiss before she moved towards the gap in the rock.  
"Hey hansom fancy giving a lady a hand?" Loba said turning to Mirage and beckoning him over.  
"Me umm sure no problem." Mirage said moving towards her and crouching down next to Loba as she peered into the dark hole.  
"If I don't come back watch out for Anita she is on the edge, your special humor seems to,help." Loba said reaching up and running one long nail through his beard.  
"Sure I mean of course, but you will be back, you're a fighter." Mirage said and for the first time he looked her in the eyes and did not shy away. She met his gaze with one of her own, before smashing her lips against his in a chased but bruising kiss.  
"Wish me luck." Loba pushed herself into the gap and was then gone, her body teleported hopefully outside and too freedom. All the rest of them could do now was wait.

Their eyes cracked open, but they could see nothing. It was dark, almost totally black, and a heavy weight was laying across their legs. They sat up pulling the weight away from themselves, finding Two eyes looking back at them. He could just about make them out in the near pitch black.  
"All Father has decided to bless me this day, for you however they had a different plan." Bloodhound rolled the beasts head away from themselves and stood up on somewhat shaky legs.  
"Scanning the area." Bloodhound sent out his sonar, but nothing came up, they were alone, for now.

Extra long as I took so long, hope you enjoyed as this chapter gave me a lot of pause. Thank you for reading XxX


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

When Loba re-materialized she was not sure if she had in fact cleared the cave, it was so dark. Then as her eyes adjusted she started to see the distant stars, and their mild light. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her last flare, having left the rest with those still trapped in the cave.  
As the flare struck Loba raised it above her head, and peered out on to the landscape before her. It felt dead, or at least dying. The fire balls had ruined much of what she knew, and it was hard to tell exactly where she was. Moving forward the light from the flare lighting her way, Lob picked through the debris. At this moment she had no plan, in fact she didn't even really have the start of a plan. then her foot hit something. It was hard but small, and seemed to roll away from her as she pulled her foot back startled. Pointing her flare downwards she looked around until she saw the grenade resting against a small rock.

Picking it up and turning it over in her hand a plan started to form. Then the hairs on the back of her neck seemed to stand up, and a shiver ran down her spine. Someone, or something was here, was coming and she was lit up like a beacon. Looking around, but seeing nothing beyond the light Loba quickly tossed the flare into the night and ran in the opposite direction. skidding in behind an outcropping of rock she pulled out her R-301 and looked down it's sights. She could see nothing, it was too dark, but she could feel something moving out there. The urge to run back to the cave was almost palpable now, as she crept away from the rock and down towards the buildings near the river, she had to at least collect some water, and pick up a few more grenades. 

'Stop being such a coward Woman you do this for a living' Loba said to herself as she paused at the door and winced as it squeaked upon opening it. Quickly swinging around, expecting there to be something behind her, Loba's heart nearly leapt into her chest when she saw nothing.  
"Damm it" She said out loud this time, and her voice sounded loud in the almost silence of the valley. Moving forward and into the room, Loba tried to let her eyes adjust the the near total darkness. she could see some shapes, but could not make anything out clearly. The looking at her staff she realised that it had not yet charged, it had been hours since she had used her black market. Frowning Loba suspected that it was just another plot twister for them all to over come.  
"I guess I will have to do this the old fashioned way." Loba again said out loud, almost now enjoying the sound of her voice. It made everything less creepy somehow. Reaching down and picking up something that looked like a grenade, Loba quickly pulled her hand away as she found something slimy. It wasn't warm however and although Loba wiped it off on her already ruined pants leg she was curious as to what she had found. Almost squinting at it in the darkness, it looked red, she placed her finger under her nose and sniffed.

Coppery, metallic sent filled her nostrils it was a sent she, no all of them knew well. Blood, and other more solid things, from what it felt like. She quickly and desperately tried to remove the stain from her hand, having the sinking feeling that this might be one of the others. The thought unnerved her, she didn't want to reach down to find the grenades any more, Loba couldn't stand the thought of touching something that used to be one of her friends.   
Loba knew she had to, that there would be time later to think about the rest of her team, for now though she had to concentrate on saving the living, the dead could wait.  
Having only found two more grenades and knowing that it would take far more than that to blow away the rocks from that small gap, if it didn't bring the entire thing down on their heads that was. Loba knew she would have to widen her search. She didn't want to, she wanted to remain as close to the cave as possible. She still had the sense that something was out here, not as close as before, but defiantly something. 

Moving on and crossing some open ground. Loba moved quickly, but did not use her jump drive. Two reasons, one she was not entirely sure if it would charge up again, and she would need it to return to the cave, and second she couldn't see for shit, she did not want to end up in a bottomless pit or something worse. Finding some more buildings that looked familiar Loba quickly filled up the water canisters she had attached to her gun holsters and climbed out of the river and into the wooden building. It was almost pitch black inside, it smelt of burnt wood, and something more. Loba tried to block out the smell of burnt flesh, but it seemed to permeate everything, it was in the walls, in the air, and now she was pretty sure it was on her boots. Looking down but not really seeing anything, Loba was however pretty sure this was not a human body, it was too large, probably a flyer, which meant the rest of her tram had come this way. A small spark of hope forced Loba on wards, her hands reaching out when she thought she spotted a grenade.  
There was one more building to check, she wasn't going going any further, her nerves couldn't take it. She had been on her own in the arena before, they all had, squad down, no chance to re spawn them. It was different, it was daylight, it was other people, a know quantity, it was a game. This most defiantly was not a game, it wasn't exciting or fun. This was in fact terrifying. It had to be done, she had to carry on for the others, no matter how hard her heart was thumping in her ears, or how much her skin was crawling at the squelch of flyer meat under her boots.   
Moving into the last building, Loba picked up two more grenades almost immediately, thanking anyone who was listening for the good fortune, she moved back to the door and froze.  
Someone was out there, or more precisely something. Loba couldn't tell, but her ears worked fine, and she could here the crunching of wooden boards under somethings weight. Pressing her back to the wall and getting out her Wingman, this was too close quarters for the R-301 really, Loba waited.

Wraith stood up, and looked outside again, it was still dark, i had been hours, well beyond how long night should have lasted, and yet the sun refused to rise.  
"You think this is how it's gonna be now?" Octane asked getting up and joining Wraith at the window. She remained silent, she did not have an answer for him, and Octane simply stood next to her for a few more beats.  
"Yeah I don't know either, but sure will make it harder to spot any critters that might be coming for us." He said finally as a soft intake of breath came form behind them.  
"What is it?" Wraith asked as Wattson got up and brushed off her pants. "Nothing, I just got an asleep behind from sitting for so long." Wattson admitted shyly as the two other Legends looked down at her, her blush however was hidden in the darkness.  
"You think we should move before the sun comes up?" Octane asked, as Wattson stood up with them, everyone else seemed to still be sleeping, and no one had the heart to wake them.  
"We can give it another hour, let them sleep, we don't know when we will get another chance." Wraith said then and went back to looking out of the window. Something was coming, but she had no idea what, but the hairs on the back of her neck were at full attention, and her skin was almost crawling with anticipation. Wraith did not tell the others this, they were already on edge, and speculation from her about the end of the world would do no one any good.   
Wraith noticed that she had been left alone at the window again, she didn't mind she liked the quite, she needed to plan to think. Taking a quick look over her shoulder and seeing Octane stroking Wattson's hair while her head laid in his lap, made Wraith grin inwardly. She would never have said it out loud but there was something going on there she was sure of it.  
All Wraith could do now was wait, hoped the sun came up, and continue the search for their missing friends. If the sun didn't come up, they would have to come up with a plan B. Considering she didn't really have much of a plan A, Wraith was not optimistic.

The footsteps were getting closer now, and Loba was sure they were footsteps, they were slow purposeful, yet cautious. This was no prowler, they were lumbering noisy creatures. For a second Loba considered that this could be one of the others, she moved then pushing herself off the wall and placed her hand at the door before she stopped herself. What if this wasn't one of the others, but one of the Revenant clones they had spoken about at the start of all of this. Hunting her in the darkness, bladed hand at the ready. She fell back against the wall, and pointed her gun at the closed doorway. Maybe they would just go right passed her. Loba thought but knew better, this thing had tracked her this far, they would not forget to check this building. She only had one advantage, the element of surprise. She would have to take her shot the moment she saw it coming in the door.  
All her muscles tensed and ready, Loba could here the thing right outside the door now, its boots creaking on the wooden staging below. It was the only sound, no breathing, no talking just the footsteps. then silence, they were at the door, she could see a shadow there, slightly darker than the night behind. Loba held her breath. She listened. The door moved inwards, slowly, cautiously. Loba's finger quivered on the trigger, the figure stepped through the doorway.  
Loba fired, her gunshot sounding loudly through the entire canyon. The figure ducked, Loba pulled her shot upwards at the last second.  
"Bloodhound!" She cried as the tracker uncurled themselves from the crouched position they had adopted to avoid getting shot in the head.  
"Loba am I gad to have found you. I have been tracking you for sometime, I was not sure however what I was tracking." They said as Loba threw her arms around them and Bloodhound could do nothing but return the gesture.

"I nearly killed you, couldn't you have called out or something." Loba asked pulling back now and feeling kind of awkward as the Adrenalin wore off.  
"Probably for the same reason you did not, I was uncertain as to whom or what I was tracking." Bloodhound replied as Loba nodded at them. Then moved out of the door, realising that they did not have time to chat, that now there was two of them they may have more chance of freeing the others.  
"Come on we have to go rescue some of the others, I'll tell you abut it on the way." Loba said calling back to Bloodhound who simply nodded and followed her. They were glad to have found someone, more than glad actually there was something very wrong about being on ones own out here, something Bloodhound dared not think about.

Mirage was starting to get worried, Loba had been gone a long time, Anita had been snapping at everyone for no reason, Revenant had been as acerbic as usual and Gibby had just been trying to cheer everyone up. Mirage had gone quiet he was thinking about the kiss Loba had given him before she had left. Sure she had kissed the others too, but she had kissed him on the lips. The lips. He could almost feel them now her lips on his own, it made him smile softy to himself, before he remembered she was gone, and he had no way of knowing if she was coming back.  
Pulling himself up Mirage went to the gap and peered through, he could see the same thing as last time, nothing, nothing but darkness.  
"Hey what you looking for there, because I can tell you now we need to start coming up with plan B, because I'm not sure thing highs is coming back." Banglore said her voice clipped as though she was forcing the words out.  
"Hey now you know you don't mean that, she is coming back, and you will be just as glad as the rest of us." Mirage said calling Anita on it, and the woman huffed and folded her arms.

"We all know why you want her back, and it isn't because you want to escape in fact I reckon you would quite like to be left alone in her with her." Banglore retorted, but almost immediately regretted it as soon as she saw Mirage's face drop.  
"Look I want us all to get out of here, and yeah I want Loba to come back I like her she makes me smile. That does not mean I am only interested in one thing, or would put the rest of you in danger or her for it. Now could we move on please, before I am completely red." Mirage said, his words coming out breathy as he spoke all in one long sentence without pause. Anita felt sorry for him, and could understand, there was something about that woman, but like Mirage Anita was not going to be putting anyone in danger to explore those thoughts.

A silence fell over the cave, no one had anything more to say, nothing nice or positive that was. Even Gibraltar had run out of uplifting things to talk about and he was sat on the floor his eyes closed as he tried to get some sleep. There wasn't much else to do and he was bone weary. Then there was a flash of light, he cracked open one eye to see Loba standing before them, big smile on her face as she looked around the cave.  
"You made it." Mirage beamed almost going in for a hug but stopping himself at the last minute. Loba looked happy, but all business.  
"I found Bloodhound, they are out side waiting, we have to try and grenade the gap, see if we can widen it, we will do it from this end, Bloodhound from the other. Gibby we are going to need your shield in case this brings the whole lot down, but it's all we have." Loba said knowing that time was off the essence, she had told Bloodhound to wait precisely five minutes, and it was important they coordinated their efforts.

"Understood buddah ready when you are." Gibraltar said standing up and preparing to initiate his shield.   
"Good plan princess, I must say not sure I would have thought of it." Banglore said as she moved towards the center of the cave along with the others, they would be at least risk there where the dome was strongest. Loba stayed by the gap, preparing to throw the grenades.  
"Thank you beautiful, now stand back." Loba said as she looked at her watch and as the time hit the five minute mark she threw the grenade.   
TBC....  
Sorry but I don't like to rush things, where's the fun in that XxX


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The sun was coming up now, Wraith could see it rising on the horizon, and had, for the last ten minutes contemplated getting everyone up. Her hesitation however was caused by the thought that this could be the day they all die, or worse the day they find everyone else dead. Wraith shivered and not due to the coolness which night time had brought, but because she knew people were going to die, there was no way they were going to keep everyone alive, they had already lost one.  
Finally the sun began to heat up the cabin that they had taken refuge in, and now Wraith wondered if it was going to be like yesterday, to hot for any kind of activity. They had finally settled on the oil rig, knowing that water was near by and it was easily defendable against prowlers, especially the central platform. Nothing had happened in the night however, and the temptation to go back to look for their friends was great.  
"It would be pointless to go back to the river, our team mates are not there, we would have found them yesterday." Caustic said coming up to her, and virtually reading her thoughts. She guessed it wouldn't be that hard, as it was what was on all of their minds.   
"I know, but maybe we could find clues, tracks anything that suggests where they might have gone." Wraith stated, not knowing where else to start.  
"If they got away they probably ran as far as we did, no way of knowing in which direction, especially without Bloodhound." Lifeline said them joining them at the window and looking out at the ocean.  
"Then maybe we can get them to come to us, send out gun fire, get them to here us." Octane suggested as he too started to get up and gather his things.  
"If they are injured they won't be able to come." Wattson replied and Octane looked at her like she had something stuck in her teeth.  
"Then maybe they will do the same, send out some shots and we can go to them." He said now turning to the others and then training his gaze on Crypto.  
"No luck yet on your drone?" He asked and Crypto shook his head.  
"No looks like they are keeping our abilities from us,a wise move as working together as we are we could pretty much take down anything, now they have us split up and at a disadvantage. Divide and conquer the oldest trick in the book." Crypto's words rang true and for a moment there was only silence.   
"Ok we try sending out some gun fire, and see what happens, lets hope they are close enough to here it, even if they can't come to us." Wraith agreed, as she moved out of the door and up on to the roof.

Loba jumped back into the domes protection as she threw all three grenades into the gap. There was a tremendous roar before the shaking started. More rubble came down, hitting the dome. Loba felt someone grab her by the waist and try to pull her further into the shield but she struggled away, aiming the grenade down the shaft once more, this was all they had, and if it didn't work they would be stuck here, all of them.  
"No let me go." she cried pulling away again, but getting nowhere.  
"You can't you will die." It was Bangalore, damm but the woman was string she held Loba fast, Loba turned and looked her dead in the eye.  
"Maybe but I have to do this, we have to get out." The tight clutch loosened and Loba sprang forward, exiting the dome once more, this time placing the grenade right at the opening in the wall. A rock struck the back of her neck, and she blinked as her vision blurred, shaking her head, she felt arms around her again, pulling her backwards, and this time she did not resist.  
Landing hard on top of the person who grabbed her, Loba felt the explosion follow her through the dome, but did not take the force full on.  
"Opph." The grunt came from below her, as her jump pack must have hit something sensitive.  
"Sorry." Loba said rolling off Mirage as he lay on the floor for a few more beats.  
"It's ok, i'll be alright, just need a minute." Mirage choked out as Gibraltar moved forward and grabbed Mirage by the jacket and pulled him up.  
"It's ok Buddah I got you." He said plunging a syringe into Mirages shoulder and giving a small chuckle as Mirage started to look a bit less pale. Loba felt guilty, but she hadn't asked him to grab her, or could control what happened there after, still she did feel bad, and for a second she had forgotten about what they had been trying to do.  
"The tunnel, its open." Bangalore shouted then, pulling the focus from Mirages bruises. Loba turned and saw that indeed the tunnel was wider, wide enough for her to get through, wide enough for all of them hopefully.  
"Lets go." Gibraltar shouted as a ominous rumbling came from above them, and Loba was sure another collapse was imminent. She watched as first Banglore, then Revenant then Mirage went through the gap, she saw Mirage having to wiggle a bit to get through, but soon he disappeared into the darkness.  
"You ok?" She asked Giblatar as he eyed the gap suspiciously.  
"Sure, now you go, just in case." He said and he needn't have said any more. Loba knew the man was worried about getting stuck, and he had no intention of her getting stuck along with him. Loba nodded, said nothing and dove through the opening. her bangle, as she suspected had no recharged and she would have to do this the old fashioned way. The passage narrowed in the center, the grenades hadn't quite reached the area enough to blast away the larger rocks. Loba tuned sideways and pressed herself between them, it was a squeeze and for a moment she though she would have to remove her jump pack, but then she popped out the other side. Looking at the daylight beyond she was tempted to go, but stopped and waited for Gibraltar.

Gibraltar knew this was going to be difficult. He usually loved his size, it provided protection for him and his team mates. Gave him an advantage over enemies and made him feel safe. Now however it was working against him. he had made it to halfway and could go no further. He watched Loba squeeze through a tight gap, and knew if the woman had struggled he would have no chance.  
"No good bruddah's I can't get through here." He shouted seeing Loba just on the other side, and she poked her head through.  
"Ditch your gear we can grab it once your through." Loba suggested, and Anita came up beside her and assessed the situation.  
"You have to make yourself as small as possible, strip down to your underwear if you have to." Bangalore implored as Gibraltar did as requested, taking everything off but his clothes. passing them his gun shield and backpack, he moved forward and pressed himself against the rock. His head started to move forward, but his mighty chest wouldn't budge.   
"Can't do it, Gibraltar is just too much man." He said his tone jovial, but his eyes said something different.  
"Your coming through even if I have to grease you up like a gun slide." Banglore said waving the man back and squeezing herself back through the passage and getting out her gun grease.  
"You weren't kidding." Gibraltar said surprised and could here a repressed laugh from the other side. Loba he thinks but now Mirage was there to and it could have just as easily been him.  
"Anything to get you out of here, we only need and inch or so." Bangalore said not caring about modesty now, one of her squad was in danger and she had to help in anyway she could. She pulled off the big mans shirt and started greasing him up. not bothering with the legs or the head she spread it liberally on her chest and back.  
"Ok now I'll push you see if you can reach through so they can help pull." Banglore shouted, shoving Gibraltar towards the narrow gap. the rumbling was gaining in strength and she knew they only had minutes to do this. Pushing with all her strength, Banglore shoved as Gibraltar started to move through the gap.   
"I've got him." Mirage cried as Gibraltar cried out as the walls pushed at his chest making it hard to breath.  
"Come on come on." Banglore shouted as finally the man pooped out, landing on Mirage who was squashed under the man and groaning softly.  
"Hey big guy no offence, but at least Loba didn't weigh as much as you, you think you could roll off buddy." Mirage wheezed out as Gibraltar did as requested and stood up quickly.  
"Sorry bruddah couldn't be helped." He said now feeling a little awkward in just his underwear.  
"Come on we have to move, this place is coming down." Loba shouted as Bangalore moved back through and tossed Gibraltar his clothes. The man pulled his shirt on, but got no further as dust started to rain down on them, they all bolted towards the daylight, where Bloodhound was waiting for them with Revenant. Loba scowled at the robot, but allowed herself to calm down quickly as she looked at the tracker who was pointing at a gap in the mountain.  
"We should head this way." They said an no one questioned them, after all if was what Bloodhoud was good at. 

Moving quickly they made their way towards the bunker, Bloodhoud had said nothing, but it was obvious they were following something. Loba kept her eyes peeled, looking for any sign of danger, her eyes landed on Elliot's, who was looking right back at her. She knew he was thinking about the kiss she had given him, that was going to be difficult to explain, but for now at least they had bigger things to worry about.

"Commencing round 4"

They all stopped, the gunfire that they were sending out now grew silent as they heard the announcement. Everyone looked at each other, but no one knew what was coming.  
"We should move inside, this location is not secure." Caustic said heading for the zip-line and watching as his team followed.  
"If it's as I suspect getting more and more difficult as the rounds progress, we can expect something far worse than hot weather and fire balls." wraith said as they moved into a cabin and closed all the doors.  
"What could be worse than it raining fire balls?" Lifeline said sarcastically as her patients was wearing thin, but she did regret it after she saw her friends face fall.  
"I don't know but I do know that we have to stick together, fighting this, whatever it is would be impossible on your own." Wraith retorted deciding that she had held on long enough, it wasn't just their lives at stake.  
"If the others are dead, then that means only two of us have to die before this game is over." Caustic said as everyone turned to look at him and not a movement was made.  
"What are you saying?" Octane said moving forward and almost standing toe to toe with the man.  
"Nothing you need worry about I have no intention of killing any of you, but I am sure I am not the only one to have thought this, I am just the only one to have said it out loud." Caustic replied as Crypto moved forward and held up his hand.  
"Shush something is coming."

The announcement sent a shiver down Loba's spine, they did not need this right now. They were all exhausted, hungry and had no idea if the others had made it. To top it all, it was getting dark. Loba could have sworn it had only been light a few hours, but time was something they had not really paid attention to when stuck in that cave.  
"We must find cover now. I know there have been people here, but I would not recommend going in there if something is coming." Bloodhound said pointing towards the bunker as the rest of them stopped beside them.  
"Nope don't fancy that either." Mirage said as he shook his head and scanned the area.   
"How about the airbase plenty of high rooms." He suggested, and with a lack of any other notion they all headed towards the large concrete structure. There was a definite feeling of despair amongst the group, Loba could feel it, even gibby was silent, as they moved into one of the rooms that bordered the airbase. closing the door Bangalore sat down heavily in the corner and pulled off the cap to her water canister. She drank thirstily, and Loba was for a moment worried that they were all dehydrated. That cave had been hot and dusty, and the heat yesterday had probably had an effect as well.

"Thirsty little girl, wanna have some of mine." Revenant then said, coming over to her and offering her his canister. Loba eyed it suspiciously, it wouldn't surprise her if it was either empty, or full of sand.  
"No thank you I have my own." She said curtly as the simulacrum scoffed at her and recapped his canister. Revenant stalked back over to the corner where he crouched down and glared at Loba who was not looking at him. he would have ground his teeth if he had any. He was trying to be nice and she threw it in his face. He had expected as much, but he didn't think it would hurt quite so badly.  
"Let me know when you run out, I'll make sure I don;t have any left." He said then, unable to help himself as Loba barely glanced at him before going back to taking with Mirage. Revenant could see the man wanted her, it was more obvious than the nose on his stupid face. Revenant however could not decide if the feeling was mutual, sure Loba flirted with him, but she did that with everyone, there wasn't anything to suggest there was anything more to it however.  
Revenant scanned the room, and saw Bloodhoud and Gibraltar in deep discussion, no threat there, but then is ocular implants landed on Bangalore, she was also studying Elliot and Loba, and her eyes held jealousy. Revenant chuckled to himself, knowing that the solider wouldn't make any kind of move out here, but it didn't stop her looking.  
Revenant turned his attention back to Loba who had sat down and was holding on to her own knees. It reminded him of what she had looked like as a small child. who knew that pathetic little thing could have grown into the woman he saw now. If only he still wore his skin suit.

"I can hear something." Bloodhound said then as they all rose together and gathered by the door. There was indeed as small rumbling, like a small earth quake, but more noise than movement.  
"Soldiers, lots of soldiers." Banglore cried, knowing that noise, and knowing that it wasn't good. She opened the door and stared down the sights of her sentinel.  
"Specters hudreds of them, i can see all types, we are in trouble folks ammo up." Banglore said shutting the door and looking around at her somewhat diminished crew.  
"What chance do we have against hundreds of specters, we are only five people, and one robot. Can we run for it?" Mirage said then looking around at the faces around him and seeing a mixture of fear and determination.  
"To run would only delay the inevitable, we must fight, but we must fight smart." Bloodhound said then as they got out their gun and loaded up.  
"Smart yeah that's my middle name." Mirage answered with a small chuckle as Loba placed her hand on his shoulder.  
"You are smarter than you think, I've see you out wit all of these lot in combat, now you just have to do it to a few more. easy." She said looking at him and not moving away as Elliot puffed out his chest and tried, at least to appear confident.  
"No worries I can do that, Heck we can all no that, no sweat." He replied but he knew their odds of getting out of this one alive were less than short, they were practically non existent. these weren't mindless prowlers, these were soldiers, robot soldiers but trained in combat none the less.  
"We need to get up high, and make sure they can only get to us a few at a time or we've had it." Bangalore said now going out the rear door that face the airbase and making a run for the out cropping roof in the centre. They all followed, keeping the wall to their backs and their guns raised.  
"There is no side cover here, if they come from there they can snipe us easily." Bloodhound said as they looked around and pointed high up to the side wall of the base.  
"We must move up there." They said but it was too late, the first specters came over the hill and advanced on their position.

Wraith was being locked down in a hail of gunfire, the specters had pinned them down in their cabin and were now bombarding them with sniper fire. it was doing little to hit them, but was keeping them from firing back.  
"They will be in here soon, and we will be gonners." Wraith said as Caustic crawled towards her. he had tried deploying his gas traps, but they had gone off, causing the others to inhale the noxious fumes. None of them were on the same team according to Hammond so they had not been protected, as his usual team mates were.  
"Then we must get out of here and fight." Caustic said standing up and throwing his gas canister out of the window. It exploded, sending a few of the specters backwards, some even fell down the hole disorientated by the gas, but it wasn't enough there was still hundreds out there.  
"Go now." Caustic shouted as they all made a break for the door. Moving behind the building for cover, they all fired their guns, hitting whatever was closest. Octane went down, his head catching a sniper shot just before he got behind cover. Wattsons cry echoed across the rig, and Wraith stopped in her tracks.  
"Placing a portal." she said rushing out to the downed legends body and snatching him right off the ground. Catching two close specters dead center before she rushed back through the portal and chucked a grenade through for good measure.  
"Putting up shields you'll be alright." Lifeline said then as she deployed D.O.C and quickly joined the others to fight. she could not look at Octane the blood coming from his head wound wad disturbing, and there was no time to think.   
the soldiers came at them wave after wave. Wraith caught a bullet in the shoulder, she went down but continued to fight. Caustic threw his traps out far enough not to effect them, but caused more disorientation in the specters. Wattson placed fences all around them so at least they couldn't get to close, and those that did fell easily to their bullets.  
This was not a battle this was a war, and Wraith was fighting for her life, she saw that the soldiers ranks had thinned and there was a way to flank them now. Phasing past she ran behind their lines, only coming out when she had cleared the throng. now it was easy she took eight or nine before they even realised what was happening. As the soldiers turned to fight her, the rest of her team could now get some easy pickings.  
the final shot that took her down was from a sniper that had stayed on the ridge, she didn't even see it coming until it was too late. the bullet caught her in between her shoulder blades, knocking her flat on her face. She cried out in pain, but she doubted anyone heard it over the sound of gunfire. As her eyes closed she felt a hand on her back.

"It's ok friend, i've got you."

TBC.......  
Thank yo for all the support for this story sorry it has taken so long to update, but i assure you I am going to finish it. XxX


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Wraith was sure she could here Pathfinders voice, but that was not possible, he was dead. Maybe that meant she was dead. Wraith always knew she would go to the sound of gunfire, it wasn't a question of it but when.   
"Shields up healing ya." Wraith felt Lifelines drone connect to her, her life blood pumping back around her body once more. She knew that when she stood up she would have no health, and no shields, but she would fire until her last breath.

When she finally stood, she was only greeted with a sea of dead bodies. Ajay had disappeared, Caustic was no wear in site, and Wraith could do nothing but step over the corpses that lines the floor. Looking around she finally spotted Wattson next to her shield generator.   
"Come on over here." She called, not over the comms which seemed to be almost completely static now, but just simply yelling across the expanse of open ground. Wraith managed a jog, but she felt week drained, and beyond exhausted. Once she reached Wattson and felt her shields start to regenerate, Wraith shook her head and looked at the small woman next to her.  
"Where is everyone?" Wraith asked as Wattson turned her face and shook her head.  
"Inside, you probably shouldn't go in there yet Renne." Wattson said nodding towards the nearest building and Wraith stood up, beyond worried now.  
"Why?" Wraith demanded, much more fiercely than the French woman deserved.  
"It's Octavio he, well D.O.C wasn't strong enough, none of us are any more. We are all weak now, they have made sure of that." Natalie's face was a picture of sadness, and Wraith could not look at it any longer. To her eternal shame she got up and walked away from the young woman, there was too much emotion, too much sadness for one heart to bare.   
Walking slowly into the cabin Wraith could not look directly at Octane's body, the blood was enough. The smell hung in the air, and the coppery sent mad her nostrils sting.   
"We should go." Was all she could say, no one disagreed they all simply stood and followed her out of the door. Wraith did not look back she could not, she felt it all though, felt it like a giant weight on her shoulders, it weighed her down now.

"You got your bombardment Gibby." Bangalore asked as they all gathered on top of the building.   
"Yeah bruddah but it's probably may last one." Gibraltar replied as he looked down and saw nothing but a sea of bodies.  
"Use it, we need to split up their ranks, we have no chance if they are in formation like this." Anita said as Gibraltar nodded at her and threw out his bomb.

Loba watched as the specters started to scatter, she had to give it ti Bangalore she knew war tactics, better than any of them.   
"We need to take on one section at at time, I have rolling thunder but I need to save it until we need it." Banglore then said standing up and baring left. there was maybe fifty specters who had branched off and were now attempting to flank them. Loba followed her, she knew that fifty against two was not good odds, but Loba would still take that bet.  
the women went sprinting through the rocks, keeping the cover until they were almost on top of the specters.  
"Giving them the chimney." Anita cried, as Loba got out her Wingman with the digital threat. Spying the disorientated soldiers, Loba plugged everyone she could get her site on. Anita was also having a field day with her R-99. the Specters still couldn't see them, but Loba and Anita could see exactly what was happening in the smokey expanse. It could only last so long however, and soon the smoke cleared enough that the specters soon spotted them.  
"Taking fire." Anita cried, as Loba slid behind a rock to reload and swap to her R-301. Her breaths came in short sharp gasps as bullets whistled past her.  
"Don't worry I'm coming." She called out as about five Mirages ran past her.

"It's dupes o'Clock." Mirage called as he tossed three thermites into the now decimated ranks. the specters didn't know where to shoot, this was Loba's chance to pull Bangalore off the front-line. Getting up and sprinting again, she grabbed the woman by her collar and dragged her behind a rock.  
"No good, I'm hit." Anita said clutching her shoulder and Loba could see the blood seeping through the womans fingers. She placed her own hand over it and pushed a syringe into Bangalore's arm. Loba ignored the warm sticky blood that now coated her hand, as she pulled Anita off the floor.  
"Thank you." The woman said, a genuine smile on her face as Loba felt a bullet graze her ear.  
"There coming." She cried virtually throwing herself to the floor and getting out of the way of the incoming gun fire.  
"It's a second squad, they've found us." Anita cried out as Loba flattened herself behind a rock as they were pinned down with yet more gunfire.  
"Hey I would suggest now as a good time to use your ultimate." Loba cried as she stuck her head out to get a look at the situation, but saw nothing as she was only narrowly missed by a bullet.  
"Sending in the pain." Banglore yelled as she tossed her grenade and the sky opened up. Loba could do nothing but duck and cover as the bombardment would likely kill her too. As the noise died down Loba ran out from her cover gun raised, there were only a few specters left around her, she picked them off easily.   
"I think we got them." She called, as the last one started crawling away, Loba followed him, intending on ending it. Then there was a rush of heat, and an impact that made Loba lose all the breath she had in her lungs. She was thrown forward, her body landing in a crumpled heap at the base of a rock. Everything hurt, she couldn't move, couldn't breath. Then she was being lifted, her limbs could do nothing to fight it. Her head felt fuzzy her lungs still wouldn't work properly. Yet this didn't feel like an attack, why would they take her, surely they would just kill her and get it over with.  
"Just you and me girliee." Revenant said as he carried her out of the way. He had seen the suicide specter coming in for Loba, for a second he wanted to watch to see her blown apart, but a bigger part of him wanted to save her. He probably pushed her far to hard to get her out of the way, but she was still alive, which in Revenants eyes was a far better condition than dead.   
"Put me down Domino." Loba then shouted, almost disgusted now as her lugs finally filled and sensation began to creep back into her limbs. she could feel is hot metal body under her skin and it made it crawl.  
"Not yet they are still too close." Revenant said still running, not having any trouble carrying her almost dead weight until she started ti struggle.  
"Stop it, you'll only hurt yourself girllie." Reverent said clutching her tighter and finally diving into a building and almost dropping her in the corner.  
"Shut up." Revenant said deploying his silence and checking out both doors before scuttling back over to Loba who was still feeling pretty dizzy from her smash into the rock.  
"What are you doing we have to go and help the others." she spat at him as he grabbed her arm, hard enough to hurt, but he didn't dig in his claws. For a moment Loba thought he was going to kill her. His glowing eyes were pinned on her own and then there was pain, but only a sting as he shoved the syringe into her arm.  
"You are in no condition to fight girlie. No you will stay here until I have finished this. Then we can talk." Revenant said as he silenced her, and Loba cried out as she was blinded, and hurt at the same time.

Revenant ran back out the door, not exactly sure what he was planning, but he knew he had to talk to Loba to ask her things. First though he had to deal with these specters. he could see the others fighting the last of them a few hundred feet away. Revenant relaised that when they finished they would look for her, before anything else. He knew both Mirage and Banglalore had a soft spot for the woman and would be worried. He had limited time, for once Revenant did not know what to do. He wanted desperately to go back and make Loba talk to him, but he also could not risk his squad loosing, that may turn out far worse.   
His mind was made up when Gibraltar joined the throng and downed five or six specters with a single clip. Now the specters were running, and going down fast. Revenant turned back, he walked up the steps and opened the door, closing it softly behind him.  
Loba was still in the corner, he hadn't healed her enough for her to be on her feet yet, just enough so she wouldn't drift unconscious.  
"Get away from me daemon." She said almost trying to crawl into the wall, and it was in that moment that the woman still held a fear of him. behind the hatred she had seen what he was truly capable of. Fear is what he saw now, and for the first time Revenant didn't like it.  
"I wish we had more time girllie, but this will have to do." Revenant said crouching down beside her. He kept his hands around his gun, but he wanted to reach out and touch her. He could still feel the warmth from her skin and he would just have to imagine how soft it was.

"What do you want." Her voice was pure venom, but there was still fear in her eyes. He was her nightmare, the one thing that had haunted her all her life, now he had her pinned in a corner and injured. Revenant however did not know anything but fear, and death. He put his gun away, and now reached for her face. She shied away from his touch it angered him, but he held his contempt back. he touched her cheek, slowly caressing her skin with his fingers. Her face changed then. Fear turned into confusion, then disgust.   
"Get your claws off me." she spat her arm coming off to knock his hand away but he blocked it. Catching her wrist, but holding it as lightly as he could.  
"What do you want!" Loba virtually screamed at him now, she was beyond emotionally wrecked, and now he was here, touching her, looking at her, she had nothing more to give.  
Revenant felt the moment when Loba gave up, she sagged against him her breathing shallow and pained. he was sure she had a broken rib or two and right now he wanted to help her so badly that he almost did. until her head fell on his shoulder and her eyes closed.

"What do you need from me Revenant?" she asked him, it was the first time she had ever used his name, and Revenant placed his hand on her head.  
"I just want you to know I was made a monster, I did not choose to become one, and if I could change that I would do in a heartbeat." He said, and for the first time he meant every word, something of his old self could still come through after all these years, he was still in there somewhere.   
Loba did not move, she did not reply, but her silence at least meant she might believe him.  
"I also have no intention of hurting you, I feel like you are some kind of part of me, or at least I made you into what you are today." Revenant couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth, he was like a different person, he was like a human.  
"You are no part of me, remember that, i am who I am in spite of you, not because of you." Loba said now pushing herself away from him and the moment was gone. It was enough, for now.  
"Come on girllie your getting blood over me." Revenant said as Loba took a swipe at her mouth and looked at the crimson paint on her hand.  
"I think i'm bleeding internally." she said a little horrified at the sight as Revenant pushed another syringe into her arm. Loba started to feel better, her legs no longer felt like jelly and her arms had stopped tingling.   
"Thank you." She said, it was stiff and she barely looked at him, but it was better than her usual hatred.  
"Now lets go help the others." She said reloading her gun and making her way to the door. Loba looked over her shoulder, and for a brief moment she saw the man, he was not the monster he had become.

It did not take long to locate the others, they were already looking for her, and Loba supposed Revenant, although none of them ever really knew where he was, he just seemed to appear when they needed him.  
"Are you ok, thought we lost you back there?" Mirage said running up to Loba and virtually patting her down to see if she was real, and ok. Mirage didn't know how his hands ended up on Loba's shoulders, but now they were there he felt somewhat awkward. Loba was also looking at him, eyebrow cocked, small knowing smile on her face. Thank fully at that moment Revenant turned up and Loba backed away from them both.  
"Got them all then did you?" Revenant said his usual acerbic tone back as they surveyed the carnage. bodies line the floor almost as far as the eye could see. It was somewhat of a disturbing site, but they all seemed to have come out unscathed. Well as far as Loba was concerned, there was no need to tell everyone else about what happened to her.  
"Sorry to say this bruddahs but it's getting dark and we would be like sitting ducks out here, what's say we go back up to the airbase." Gibraltar said as Bangalore looked around and the sky was indeed darkening at an alarming rate.  
"Right we need to hustle guys." She said holstering her weapon in favor of speed as she took off towards the airbase, knowing instinctively that everyone would be following her. There was also something not right with Loba, she had practically ran from Revenant when he appeared. Sure she did actively avoid the simulacrum when she could, but she never backed down from him. Anita was sure something had gone on there, and she would be finding out. After all she had to know what was happening in her squad for the good of the mission. At least that was what she was going to tell herself.

Wraith finally stopped when it got too dark to see. they had made their way to the edge of the canyon and had bedded down for the night in one on the cabins that bordered it. she looked out of the window, and she could see the cage in the distance. It's tower standing taller than the surrounding architecture. Her eyes found the upper level, she knew what was there, just like she knew what they had left behind. Death and destruction. Wraith could end this now for all of them, just take out her spitfire and start shooting. Maybe the others had survived, and then they would all be dead, and whomever was left could carry on. Or maybe there would be three of them left, not that Wraith would allow herself to live after doing something like that. Ajay would have to go first she had been devoid of life since Octane's death. Her eyes hollow and glassy, she had not said a word, and her feet had dragged along behind the rest of them.

Wattson wasn't fairing much better, she had been quite, but had at least suggested where they should go. She had Alexander looking out of her, it made a difference. Crypto was always quiet, but now as he sat working on Hack he had moved away from the others distancing himself from them. Feeling useless, probably.  
"You think you could get in?" Wraith the asked as Crypto looked up and pointed at himself.  
"You mean me, get in where?" Crypto asked as Wraith took a few steps closer, so she could talk more quietly.  
"Into what Loba was talking about, the control rooms." Wraith then hissed as she looked at the others who were either sleeping or didn't really care.  
"Maybe, I think I have found away to bypass their control over Hack which means I maybe able to locate the others." Crypto said also in a hushed tone as Wraith drew even closer.  
"Then we need to locate the entrance, we can not take any more attacks, we are low on supplies, and well you know, Octane going down hasn't done us any favors." Wraith said unable to speak of it in any terms.  
"I understand, we can start in the morning, I should be ready by then." Crypto said turning back to Hack and getting off the outer casing. Wraith decided the man had nothing more to say to her and she returned to the window, she knew she would not be sleeping tonight.

Anita was bedded down in a corner, she could see everyone, and the door, well everyone except Revanant who was up on the roof, keeping watch, he had no need for sleep apparently, but Anita didn't entirely trust him. There was still the business with Loba to tend too as well, but right now Elliot was talking to her, and it didn't look like he was going away any time soon. Anita let her teeth grid a little, a habit she had gotten into because of her brother, but had quickly learnt to stop when having to bunk with others in a dorm. She had learnt the hard way how not to piss off your squad mates.

"Hey well I've got to go you know use the little boys room." Elliot said as Loba laid her head down on her pack and stifled a yawn.  
"Ok handsome, no need to go into details." Loba smiled as Elliot looked suitably embarrassed, before turning and scuttling out of the door. Loba let her eyes slip closed, her ribs still hurt a little and she had done nothing but run and fight all day, and yet that was not what was keeping her from sleep. It was not, much to Elliot's disappointment, his witty banter either, but what Revenant had done earlier. It was what even by why, why did he want her forgiveness so much, when he had done bad things to a lot of people. Only her opinion of him seemed to matter. Loba shivered slightly, not because she was cold, but because she didn't dare explore the thought that crossed her mind. How tender he had been, how he had touched her. No. she screamed inside her head as a hand fell on her shoulder.  
Loba grabbed the arm the hand was attached to and twisted it until the owner yelped in pain.  
"Easy princess it's only me." Anita gasped out, unprepared for the speed with which Loba had acted. Also Anita sometimes forgot the woman was actually dangerous, the look, the act all had you turning the other way. Clever really when you thought about it.

"Sorry just you know, a bit on edge." Loba said immediately letting go of the woman and letting herself fall back onto her backpack. She cracked one eye and saw Anita still looking down at her. There was something about the woman, something that told Loba that she wasn't going to like this conversation.  
"Look I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to ask, You see I need to know how my squad are doing it's important, and something happened, between you and Revenant, I thought I saw him pick you up, take you away. I assumed you were injured and he was healing you, but then, when we found you, you were different. If something happened you need to let me know. Please." The courtesy was added as an after thought but seemed to effect Loba the most. Her eyes drew open, and she sat up, propping herself on her elbow.  
"I'm sure if something happens you will be the first person i tell." Loba then said, and as the words came out of her mouth, even as Loba held Anita's gaze without blinking, the solider knew she was lying.   
"If he hurt you, if he touched you." Anita said with a quick scan of Loba's body for added emphasis.  
"We will do something about him ok, this doesn't matter." Anita gestured to the wider world, but kept her eyes on Loba's.  
"Look"  
"Liar, tell me I know something happened, I know you, all of you too well." Anita interrupted before Loba could concoct another lie.  
"Nothing ok, really, He threw me out of the way of a suicide specter and I bust my ribs, I had to heal, he took care of me, it was strange, but he didn't hurt me, really." Loba said and this time Anita there was at least some truth in what the thief was saying, but there was something else, and right now Loba was not saying, and probably wouldn't either.  
"Hey you need me to vacate?" Mirage asked as he walked back in and saw Anita virtually hovering over Loba who looked tired and drained. Her usual vibrancy had gone, as he suspected all of theirs had. He didn't like to see them in this sate, but there was something raw and vital about it that made the woman even more attractive.  
"Nah we're done here, time to hit the hay." Anita said standing up and moving back into her corner of the room. Elliot went over to his which headed onto Loba's and he sat down next to his pack.  
"You look like you could do with some sleep." He said as Loba cracked open one eye and looked at him.  
"I think we all could beautiful, but right now I would settle for a soft bed, and a warm blanket." Loba said turning onto her side in an attempt to get comfortable on the hard concrete floor.  
"Yeah I know what you mean, I could keep you warm if you wanted." Elliot didn't realise what he had said until it had come out of his mouth. the blush that rose on his cheeks was almost radiant in the low light in the room. Loba's face said it all, she was amused, but also, much to Elliot joy a little embarrassed.  
"As much as that may appeal to me some day, right now is not the time, thank you." Loba said finally and Elliot could do nothing but smile. He was determined that that one day would come. Not just for him, but for all of them. 

Crypto sat in the darkness, everyone else was asleep, including Wraith who had practically fell where she stood exhaustion finally getting the best of her. Hack lit up and beeped at him. He was ready, now it was time for some payback.

TBC.....


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter12

Wraith awoke with a jolt, Her head narrowly missing the crate she was propped up next to. She wondered briefly why she had woken up so suddenly, then she knew. Crypto was gone, she was sure he hadn't just popped outside. She stood up and quickly scanned the area anyway, just in case she was wrong. She wasn't. There was no sign of the tec wizard, and now Wattson and Caustic were waking up. Wraith didn't know what to tell them as they realised their merry band of travelers was now down to four.  
"I do not understand why would he leave like that?" Wattson asked as she dusted off her jump suit and picked up her gun.  
"I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with getting into Hammond's control rooms, we were talking about it last night." Wraith replied as Caustic started pacing the room.  
"No its something more than that, surely he would need ally's to help him get into a facility that secure." Caustic said finally coming to a stop at the door and scanning the area before turning back to the two women.  
"I suggest we no longer trust him to be on our side, there is a possibility he is now in this for himself." Caustic's words rang clear, even though Wraith did not want to believe them, there was a certain truth to what the Dr was saying.  
"We should move, no point in staying here, especially if you're right and Crypto is out to win this thing." Wraith then said as she gathered her stuff, and moved out of the door.  
Wraith noticed that Lifeline had not followed them, she moved towards her old friend, and helped her off the floor.  
"He's gone Renne." She said then, and Wraith could do nothing but nod at her.  
"Come on, let's get moving." Wraith replied still unable to acknowledge the fact that Octane was indeed gone.  
"I agree, our next location should be somewhere we have not yet been, perhaps we will find some of the others." Caustic said joining Wraith on the steps, and they all headed west. No one even considered going towards the tower, it was not mentioned either.  
"I just have one question, If Crypto wanted to simply be one of the winners, why didn't he just kill us when we were sleeping. why go off on your own and risk getting killed by whatever Hammond send our way next?" Wattson asked as they walked across the undulating surface and unwittingly walking towards Crypto's dome.

Loba woke up and was stiffer than she had ever been. Her ribs hurt, her back was still aching from a few days ago, and even her leg was throbbing again. She turned and dug around in her pack but only found two syringes, and one med kit she was planning on hanging on to.  
Trying to be quiet as everyone else was still asleep, Loba made her way outside and took care of natures call. Her eyes scanned the horizon, but she could see nothing but sand and buildings. All seemed quite, this was normally the time when shit came crashing down on your head. But she finished and made it back inside without incident, that was until she bumped right into Bangalore. Loba practically bounced off the woman's chest, and fell straight on her ass.   
"Damm it that hurt." Loba cried as she simultaneously held on to her ribs and her backside. Bangalore didn't know weather to laugh or help the woman up. She settled on a small chuckle then offered Loba her hand.  
"I need a minute." Loba said and now Bangalore was worried, the woman was usually as tough as nails, but they had all been through the ringer.  
"You sure you're ok princess?" Bangalore asked as she bent down slightly to grab Loba by the arm pit and pull her off the deck.  
"I'm fine, just a little sore." Loba wince as she stood and shook off Bangalore's arm, she did not want the woman's pity. The look however on Anita's face after Loba's biting tone was something Loba did not intend.  
"Look no offence, I hate not feeling great, plus I did just fall on my ass, which is pretty embarrassing." Loba said softening her words, and Bangalore gave her a small smile.  
"I won't tell anyone, Anyway I didn't see anything." She gave Loba a wink and Loba just smiled before turning back to her sleeping area and trying not to wake Mirage.

She was unsuccessful, but not entirely he was already pretty much awake, he just couldn't be bothered to move.  
"Hey how you doing?" He asked and Loba smiled down at him, thinking twice about sitting back down, she wasn't sure she would be able to get back up.  
"Not too bad considering." She said with a small smile as Elliot got himself off the ground and pulled his pack up with him.  
"I have this if you need it, actually have five left, so you know, take it if you want it." Elliot said knowing that Loba was injured and he really didn't like the thought of her in pain. Maybe it was just a male thing, or maybe it was something more but, to his surprise Loba took the offered syringe."  
"Thank you." She said nothing more and Mirage actually felt like she really meant it.  
"Hey for you no problem." Elliot replied and wanted to say more but was interrupted by Bloodhound.  
"We should leave here, I had a track on the others yesterday, but the tail will grow cold soon. If we wish to locate them we must leave now."  
"Heard that, come on let's roll out." Bangalore said, getting her gear together and following Bloodhound out of the doors.

They made there way across the sandy landscape and back towards the bunker. Loba looked around but could see no one, hear nothing, and the air seemed to have a clear and crisp quality to it. 

Commencing round 5

Wraith froze, the wind blew her hair across her face, and the chill was evident now. Before she just felt like it had grown cooler, perhaps, but she attributed it to being tired, and hungry. Now however she was sure it was colder, much much colder.  
The first fake of snow fell onto her cheek, she swiped at it, looking down at the flake with confusion. She had never really seen snow. Ice yes, and the stuff covering the ground at Worlds edge, but that was hard, compact almost artificial. This was real wet and cool to the touch.  
"We need to get some cover now." Wattson said as she surged forward, and made her way towards the cabins that lined the edge of the water fall. the wind had really picked up now, and the snow was falling in ever increasing amounts, and it was starting to cover the ground below their feet. It crunched, and made the walk ways slippery.  
"It's a blizzard we need to get inside." Lifeline shouted above the noise of the wind. Briefly Wraith was pleased that the woman was talking again, it was a shame it took this deadly storm to bring it out of her.  
"In here quick." Wattson said throwing open the door to the largest cabin, and making her way to the corner. It was not the best place, there were cracks in the wooden panels, and one side had open windows, but at least they were out of the worst of the wind.  
"You think we can get to somewhere a little more insulated." Caustic said looking out of one of the many gaps and spying the watch tower.  
"We could try, I suggest however if we are going to go, we go now, before the canyon becomes impassable." He continued as Wraith got up and also looked out of the window, wrapping her arms around herself to try and fend off the cold.  
"I think we have no choice, it's going to get much colder." No one objected, and as one they made their way back outside into the storm.

When the snow started falling Loba pulled on her jacket and tucked her head down to try and keep her nose out of the worst of the cold.  
"We need to get inside, we are going to freeze to death out here." Bangalore called over the wind as it howled in their faces. They were trying to make it to bunker, but the snow was falling so fast that the ground was now cover in a thick white blanket. it was hard to walk through, and the temperature had plummeted low enough that Elliot could see Loba's lips turning blue.  
"Hey over here." Elliot shouted, vaulting a wall and making his way towards the small out building. They all followed him, and Bloodhound closed the door as they came inside. It wasn't much but at least it was out of the wind.  
"We have to insulate this place, its getting colder with ever minute, I can feel it, my fingers are going numb." Gibraltar said as he searched around in his pack for something to block the door with. He had nothing but some bread, and a small lump of meat left. They could not waste any food, none of them had eaten for nearly a day, and soon if it got colder, they would all need the sustenance.  
"I don't have anything, what about you guys?" Gibraltar asked as Bloodhound came forward. They reached under their suit and pulled out what looked like stuffing of a pillow.  
"In my country we have to be prepared for all types of weather." they said simply, and placed the padding around the edges of the doors. The wind no longer made a whistling noise through the building, but their breath was coming out in smokey whips.  
"I have a feeling this is not the end, it is likely to become much colder, I suggest we get together for warmth." Bloodhound said like snuggling was nothing to them, but you could see the awkward looks on the others faces. That was except Bangalore.  
"Bloodhound is right, you spend one or two cold nights in the dirt you don't give a damm who you get paired with to keep warm." She said disposing of her jet pack as Bloodhound did the same.  
Loba looked around she was freezing, and had really no choice, her arms were beginning to tingle, and her face had lost most of the feeling in it.  
"Can we make some kind of fire?" She asked thinking about the thermites she still was carrying.  
"I can build a fire, but I must go and retrieve some wood, I can go to the trees nearby." Bloodhound said and Gibraltar stood up and volunteered to go with them. They both headed out the door, briefly letting in the cold outside, and Loba started shivering, and could not stop.

Wraith, Wattson and Lifeline were huddled in the interior of east watch tower. It was defiantly warmer inside, but Wraith knew that even in here, even huddled together it had to be at least minus ten degrees. They would not last long in those kind of temperatures. Caustic was off trying to find anything to keep them warm. Wraith did not hold out much hope for him, as outside with the wind chill it was almost unsurvivable.   
"Do you think the Dr is ok, he has been gone a long time?" Wattson asked as she curled up against Wraith and tried to keep warm.   
"I hope so, but if he is not back soon, we will have to go looking for him." Wraith said placing her arms around both Wattson and Lifeline as the women huddled together.  
"What else can they do to us, I tell ya, I am about ready to just jump off into the sea, or get one of you guys to just end it all." Lifeline then said in a small voice, but it held a conviction that scared Wraith.  
"Don't you say that, don't even think that." Wraith said forgetting about the cold for a moment and choosing to take Ajay by the shoulders and force her to look at her.  
"Silvia would not want you to die, it's the last thing he would ever want, you here me now." Wraith did not blink did not move until she saw Ajay nod.  
"Good now huddle up ladies I think we maybe in for a cold night."

It was almost impossible for Bloodhound to see, the snow was sticking to their mask, and it was now almost frozen solid. It was getting harder and harder to breath. They looked over to Gibraltar who had his gun shield raised trying to fend off the snow.  
"No good bruddah, we have to go back." Gibraltar said stopping by an out cropping of rack and shielding himself from the worst of the weather. Bloodhound joined him and crouched down in the snow. It was a thick soft blanket now, almost impossible to track through, and just as hard to manoeuvre.   
"I am unable to scan something is blocking my abilities, I cannot locate where we left the rest of our squad." Bloodhound said actually distressed that they could not find their way back in these conditions, more than the biting cold that now seeped into their bones.  
"We must take cover bruddah, we wont last long out here, then we will never get back to them." Gibraltar said pushing himself off the rock and making his way to the nearest out post. Bloodhound had no choice but to follow him, they could not do this alone. Luckily they past a crop of trees on the way, and Bloodhound pulled as many beaches down as they could carry. Gibraltar realising what the tracker was doing, came back to help. Finally arms full of wood they shut themselves inside the small room and gathered together in the corner.  
"The wind's of change are coming my friend, I hope you have prepared." Bloodhound intones as Gibraltar dropped the last of the wood on the hard floor and sighed.  
"I'm always ready bruddah, but you can't fight nature."

"Hey thigh highs you ok?" Bangalore said as she emptied out the backpacks and opened them up as wide as they would go. Her eyes caught the woman shaking as she emptied out her own pack.   
"Fine, just a little chilly, didn't pack my winter wardrobe." Loba said , her tone was joking, but her lips were a worrying shade of blue.  
"Me either, so we are going to have to make do with what we have. Use the backpacks as padding from the cold floor. then we will have to use our jackets as blankets." Bangalore said as Mirage picked up what looked like a goggles case from the floor.  
"Man I forgot about this." He said shaking out the small bag and what looked like a rolled up bag fell on the floor.  
"I packed it last second thinking I might need it, and then with everything forgot I had it." Loba watched as Elliot flicked out the material and it expanded in to a thick sleeping bag.  
"You had that all along and we are freezing our collected butts off out here." Anita said snatching the sleeping bag off Elliot and opening it out so it was more of a duvet than a bag.  
"Ok strip guys, body heat is best shared when there are less clothes in the way to contain it. You should be fine princess." Bangalore added looking at Loba shivering in just a corset, but encouraging Elliot to take off his heavy jacket.  
"Good we can use them as extra covers, now get in." Bangalore said raising the blanket as Loba got on her knees and crawled onto her own backpack. It was already warmer, even with the blanket only covering her legs. Banglore got in on her left, but Elliot still stood outside and danced slightly looking out the door.  
"What are you doing, get in her before we all freeze to death." Anita said before realising that climbing into bed with two women might be a bit intimidating.  
"Just looking to see if Bloodhound and Gibby were coming back, but I can't see anything, it's totally white out there." Elliot said as he backed away from the door, as ice started to surround the window frame. The cold was coming in, and there only chance would be to do as Anita suggested. Elliot just wasn't sure how much of cozying up to two women he could take, he didn't want to embarrass himself. 

"It's ok Elliot please get in I'm freezing, and I really don't want to see you turn into an icicle. Really it's ok." Loba said her voice low soft and Elliot knew that the woman understood. He did as she asked, Climbing in beside her, so Loba ended up in the middle. It was always going to be this way. There was something not right about cuddling with Anita, even if it probably would have been easier in the sexual tension department. Elliot was sure Anita felt the same way, she wasn't exactly a fan of the male persuasion.   
Bangalore pulled the blanket over them, so not even their heads stuck out, the difference was almost immediate, but Loba still could not stop shaking. It was obvious Elliot noticed as he placed his hand on her shoulder and began rubbing the warmth back into her arm. Or at least he tried to.  
"You're probably hypothermic, going to take a while to warm up, we need to get as close as possible." Bangalore said now shuffling forward and wrapping her far enough around to reach Elliot and encourage him in closer. Loa now felt like the meat in a human sandwich, but she did feel warmer. She could hear Bangalore's heartbeat, as her head lay on the woman's chest. It was beating faster than it should be, and Loba wondered if maybe the woman wasn't as comfortable with this as she made out. Loba felt her eyes closing, and the pull of sleep start to take over her body. Then Bangalore shook her back to consciousness.   
"No sleeping princess, none of us can sleep, it lowers the body temperature, and we will succumb to hypothermia much quicker. We have to keep each other awake." Banglore said and Loba groaned slightly.

"I've got some stories if anyone is interested." Elliot said and Loba turned her head slightly, but she still couldn't see him, as he was directly behind her.   
"I said keep us awake not send us to sleep." Banglore said, but her tone suggested she was only joking, but Loba heard Elliot huff anyway.  
"I have some suggestion's, if anyone is interested." Loba said in her most flirtatious tone, and she felt Elliot stiffen behind her. His body ridged and he inched a bit further away.  
"Maybe we save that for emergencies a." Bangalore said as Loba just gave a small chuckle and tried to keep her eyes open. It was hard, she was so tired, and to top it all, she hated the cold. Oh the snow was pretty and she loved looking out at the snow covered trees, but from her nice warm apartment. Not here on a cold floor, with only a single blanket between them and almost certain death. She felt Elliot inch back in closer, and now his arm came around her waist and held on loosely. She said nothing, but hummed slightly as their shared warmth started to seep its way into her cold bones.

"Hey no sleeping." Bangalore said again as Loba's head fell slightly off her shoulder, and she knew Loba was succumbing to the hypothermia.  
"I wasn't sleeping I was just resting my eyes." Loba replied incredulously, as Bangalore huffed and placed her finger under her chin.  
"Look I don't want to loose another member of my team, not here, not ever, now you stay awake princess, or i'll have you doing jumping jacks outside." Bangalore almost commanded her, and Loba did feel a little more awake.  
"Alright ok I'm awake, so how long do you think this will go on for?" Loba asked then, more for conversation than actually thinking anyone would know the answer.  
"Well I have noticed a pattern, each round seems to last about twelve hours, some are over more quickly than others of course, it did not take that long to kill the specters, or the prowlers, but the next round only comes after the twelve hours are up. I suspect we will just have to wait it out in here." Bangalore said as Loba shifted slightly and found herself pressed more tightly against Elliot and this time he did not move away.  
"Well maybe we should hear some of those stories, since we have a long wait." Loba suggested and Elliot began talking.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Caustic returned just in time, he was frozen to the core, but had managed to get some wood, which he had encased inside what looked like the interior of a supply bin.  
"Where did you get this?" Wattson said taking the foam material off him, and realising there was two.  
"I have repurposed the supply bin interior, it will make a great combustible material." Caustic said dumping the wood near to the ladder that went up to the roof. He then took out his thermite and set the wood alight.  
"We could use one as a blanket, we may all fit." Lifeline suggested spreading the material out and noticing that it probably wasn't big enough, but they could at least sit on it.  
"You must try to get warm Doctor or you will become ill." Wattson said guiding the older man over to the fire and making him sit as close to it as he could stand.  
"Thank you, but I will be ok, I suggest we attempt to gather more supply, or this fire will go out and we will all freeze." Caustic continued to shiver but he could at least feel his face again.  
"Ok I will go, i have a portal available, can you let me know the best place to go?" Wraith said pulling her scarf tighter around herself. It was defiantly warmer in the room now, but it was still pretty cold. Wraith knew they must keep the fire going or they would be in serious trouble.  
"Head left out of the door, down the side of the watch tower, and the trees are at the bottom, there are also two more supply bins I did not have time to remove. Here take my knife." Caustic said handing her a small pen knife and Wraith took it with a short nod.  
"I'll come with you, the less time we are out there the better, two of us should make the work go quicker." Lifeline said then following Wraith to the door. For a moment Renne wondered if Ajay had any intention of returning from this trip. She looked the woman in the eyes and saw Ajay looking back at her. Not the shell of a woman she had been last night but actually her friend.  
"Ok." Wraith said pushing open the door, and bracing herself against the bitter cold. It was worse than she imagined, and she ran about ten yards before jumping into the void. At least in here she couldn't feel anything. She headed the way Caustic told her to, and ran as far as the rift would allow her too. She came out only 20 yards from the suply bins, running quickly towards them, she heard Lifeline emerge from the portal and start for the nearby trees.  
Wraith could already feel her hands going numb. her lips started to tingle, and her heart began to pump blood only to her vital organs.  
"Shit do this quick Ajay nothing can survive in this." Wraith cried out as the medic acknowledged her call, and began furiously snapping branches off the trees.  
Wraith cut into the fabric in the interior of the supply bin. she got the first one off easy enough, but by the time she got to the second, her hands were frozen. Tears had began to stream from her eyes because of the wind, and now they were freezing to her face.  
Furiously cutting away at the fabric, Wraith could feel her vision fading, and her body starting to shut down.  
"Come on I got ya, now keep moving." Ajay said pulling the padding off by hand in one big tug, and shoving Wraith back through the portal. shooting out the other end the woman both ran for the safety of the warm room. Bursting through the door they quickly threw more wood on the fire and crouched as near to it as they dare.  
"I don't know how you were out in that for as long as you were." Wraith said to Caustic as the man turned to her and gave her an unblinking stare.  
"Sometimes the will to live can surprise even me."

Bloodhound knew they could not light a fire in the room without making a hole to allow the smoke to escape. otherwise they would suffocate. the only problem was there was no windows and the roof was solid.  
"We must change location, we cannot survive in here." Bloodhound said a Gibraltar looked around, trying to locate another building.  
"I can't see anything bhruddah, the snow it's too thick." He replied as Bloodhound went to the door. then I will guide us, trust in the all father we shall make it." They said moving off into the deep snow and realising that the temperature had dropped further still. Now the snow as almost turning to ice, the surface was slippy and dangerous.  
"Watch your step, the ground is not safe." Bloodhound called to Gibraltar who was only a meter behind him, but was almost obscured by the snow.  
"I got you." Gibraltar called but his voice was feint and Bloodhound hung back until the man had caught up with him.   
They drove on, Bloodhound headed back for the bunker, it was the only place they could think of that was sealed from the cold, and near enough.   
It wasn't as Bloodhound felt themselves slipping into unconsciousness, they turned back only to see that Gibraltar had fallen to. His body now covered in a fine layer of snow. Bloodhounds last thought were not that of regret but of peace, they had prepared for their end, they could only hope their dear friend Gibraltar had done the same.

Revenant had been watching, he had moved away from the others, knowing that the cold would have little effect on him. He had no desire to cuddle up with them in a prison of snow. Now however the temperature had doped so low that even his circuits were being effected.  
"Damm metal suit work." He said giving his chest a thud and rebooting his functions once more. He just had to get out of the wind. Maybe he would go join Hound and Gibraltar, at least he wouldn't have to watch Loba get fawned over by a pair of loved up puppies. Moving himself off the rock he had perched on Revenant headed towards bunker.

When Loba opened her eyes she realised that she had fallen asleep and no one had tried to stop her. She poked her head out from the blanket, and her nose instantly froze. She risked a quick look around, and noticed that a think layer of ice now covered the entire room. Once when she was little her mamme had read her a story from earth. It was an old legend on how people thought the world might end. It was something like, the world would not end in a great ball of fire, but a thick ever lasting blanket of snow. Right now Loba could believe the ancient legend, as she quickly tucked herself back into the cocoon they had created.  
It was then Elliot shifted, pressing himself up against her and murmuring something. Loba froze, the man was maybe asleep but something told her he was more aware than he was making out. deciding as ever to come right out and say something Loba took a deep breath.  
"I am going to assume that it your side arm even though I know your not carrying one." Her voice was soft, mostly a whisper, but she knew he had heard her as his body stiffened and his breath caught in his throat.  
"Sorry but I was asleep, and your very, umm, how do I put this." Elliot stammered, but he still had not moved away from her.  
"How about you hush before you wake Anita up, anyway don't be embarrassed it happens to everyone, sometimes." Loba said with a small grin, and Elliot relaxed slightly behind her.  
"It's so dam cold, if you fancy using me as a mattress feel free." Elliot then said, Loba realising that his body was shivering slightly, and she turned now to face him.  
"Oh." Elliot said, it was a regretful oh, but also kind of surprised. Loba was shocked he could get so much emotion into a single word.  
"It's pretty warm here in the middle, if you wanted to swap." Loba offered, knowing that she could stand to be on the outside if it helped Elliot.  
"Well maybe I don't, maybe for just a few minutes." Elliot gave in, and to his eternal shock Loba began to shuffle over the top of him.  
"What you think I'm getting out, no way it's colder than a witches tit out there." Loba said pausing half way so she was half lying on him, her breasts pushed firmly into his chest, but her legs and lower region still on the floor. She turned slightly and pulled the blanket back into place, so that Anita remained covered. then she felt hands wrap around her waist.  
"This is fine, much warmer now." Elliot said feeling unusually brave here in the freezing room, with what seemed like only a slim chance of surviving this. Loba was shocked enough that for a moment she allowed him to hold her. She liked Elliot he was funny, on occasion, and sweet, and he was hansom which didn't hurt. Somehow though this seemed wrong with Anita only inches away. Not because Loba knew Anita held a little, if hidden crush on her, but also because Loba didn't know what she wanted, only to stay alive long enough to deal with Revenant.  
"Ok hansom why don't I just take your position now?" Loba said trying to be tactful, as Elliot had the guts to pout at her.  
"This is very cosy, I think we should stay just like this." He replied tightening his grip on her and Loba huffed.  
"Look Anita is right there, I don't think she would appreciate..." Elliot interrupted her then.  
"You kissed me, back in the cave. It wasn't just a peck either."  
For the second time Loba was caught off guard, she had been expecting him to ask about that, but not right now. Although thinking about it what better time was there they could be dead in hours.  
"I know beautiful, I shouldn't have done that, but I thought I might never see any of you again." She replied as truthfully as she could, without making this current situation any more charged than it already was.  
"I see, but you really planted one on me, that was no nice to know ya kiss, I felt it I was there." He said and now Elliot's hands were moving, they wandered to her sides, rubbing up and down creating an altogether different kind of heat. Loba shivered, but not because she was cold this time, she was only glad that her torso was pressed against him, because if anything else were pressed together she knew she would be done for.  
"Elliot listen to me, as much as I would enjoy this we have to first get out of this alive. what if they suddenly decide to send an attack, we would be dead, and nothing would matter." Loba said taking Elliot's face in her hands and looking at him. Her eyes staring down into his, unblinking, unwavering, and deadly serious.  
"I know, and if I promise not to try anything else will you just stay, give me that at least." Elliot replied and the sheer desire in his voice had her nodding at him. Loba laid her head on his chest and allowed herself to relax. It was indeed warm like this, if a little lumpy in places.

Loba woke again, Elliot must have moved because now she was lying fully on top of him, one leg in the middle of his, and her head under his chin. He was not awake this time, his slow even breathing was testament to that. Loba wondered why she had woken, then she realised that Anita had not made a sound for hours. the woman was like an ever coiled spring. If something was going down Anita was on it. Now the woman slept so soundly that Loba started to worry. Moving slowly so not to wake Elliot Loba reached out on hand and patted Anita on the shoulder. There was no response. Loba now pushed up and off Elliot, which effectively woke him, and he immediately grabbed for her.  
"Come back it freezing." He said still half asleep.  
"No there is something wrong with Anita." Loba said as she pulled herself up and threw off the blanket. Elliot was up now and crawling across the makeshift bed and pulling Anita on to her back. She was effectively blue. her lips were so pale it was scary, and her skin was almost like ice to the touch.  
"Damm it, quick get my med kit out of my bag." Loba called as she placed her fingers against Bangalore's neck, but felt no pulse. Loba quickly placed both her hands on the woman's chest and began pumping. Leaning down then she held on to Anita's nose and blew air into her mouth.  
"Quick I don't think we have long." Loba cried as Elliot plunged the syringe into Anita's heart as Loba moved out of the way to let him. When it was done, and Anita still didn't move, Loba resumed compression's, her body almost sweating under the effort, a sweat which seemed to almost freeze to her skin, but Loba did not stop. she could not stop, they should have realised something was wrong earlier when they had woken before. Now it was too late.  
"Loba, Loba stop she's gone." Elliot said now placing his hand on her shoulder. Loba roughly shrugged it off. Get another syringe, she is string she will come through this." Loba said and Elliot did as she asked, they should do everything they could, she was their friend.  
"Ok here let me take over before you get sick to." Elliot said noting the fine film of sweat that now covered Loba's face.  
"Ok give her the meds and then take over." Loba said as she blew another breath into Anita's mouth, just as the woman coughed and spluttered, and Loba pulled back almost shaking with relief.  
"Damm it you were kissing me and I missed it." Anita croaked out, her voice horse and her body weak as she tried to sit up.  
"You were dead, I mean really dead, not fake see you in the drop ship." Elliot said then a smile gracing his entire face as Anita insisted on sitting up.  
"Loba saved you." Elliot said almost proudly as Loba sat back on her haunches and wiped the spit from her lips.  
"Thanks princess, told you not to fall asleep didn't I." Anita said as a half joke, but wishing she had followed her own advice. She looked at the younger woman now, and to put it politely she looked awful. She was wet and shiny from sweating, and now it was freezing to her pale and drawn face. her shoulders hunched low, and her breaths came in short sharp gasps.  
"Though we'ed lost you, i . It was my fault, I wasn't paying attention." Loba then said, wiping herself clean with the end of the blanket and wrapping her arms around herself as the cold seeped back into her body. It was the first time Anita had thought of the woman as small. But she was, her arms almost wrapped around her entire frame, her legs tucked below her and her thin shoulders uncovered.   
"Get back in, if we don't we might all freeze to death." Anita said then forceably pulling Loba back down and pointing to Elliot to do the same. The man did as asked, without question, and they all pulled far closer together, now fully aware of what could happened if they drifted apart.  
Anita looked at Loba's face, the woman was not looking back at her, there was something very wrong here, and it wasn't that she had been technically dead. Loba had said it was her fault, and Elliot was being unusually quiet. Anita wondered if something had happened whist she had been sleeping. Something that distracted them, something they were not proud of. Anita felt jealous, not scared that she had almost died, or angry at why, but jealous that whilst she had been dying they had being doing something together. In that moment Anita knew she would have to do something about this infatuation once and for all.

Revenant hadn't gone straight to bunker, he had passed by the room where Loba and the other two were hiding out. He had seen Loba on top of him, seen his hand casually thrown around her. the blanket had fallen away enough to reveal this to his optical receptors. Revenant grunted, and stomped across the wilderness. Maybe he thought, if Loba could find his sauce code, he could take it, and maybe download himself into an actual skin suit. Start over, find himself someone. Maybe someone like her. As he trudged through the snow, which seemed to have stopped falling he foot hit something soft and lumpy. Pulling back the snow drift that covered whatever it was, Revenant was surprised to find Gibraltar. His body was almost frozen stiff, but the man had a pulse.  
"Damm it skin suit, now I've got to drag you heavy ass." Revenant said as he began pulling the big man up and throwing him over his shoulder. It wasn't ten feet when Revenant found Bloodhound. He had to pull their mask back to check for a pulse, but it was of no use, they had frozen solid, even the last breath that stuck to the inside of their mask was still a frozen icicle.   
"Shame you could have been some use to me yet. better get you back to the others. Maybe Loba would warm you up too." Revenant said in a voice which bordered on insane as he made his way back through the frozen tundra.

TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As Revenant trudged through the snow, he shifted Gibraltar's weight on his shoulder, the cold was really starting to effect his circuits now, and he grumbled, but kept on walking. Just as he rounded the corner, and had the small hut the others were camped in in site, the sun came out from behind the thick clouds. It was as like someone had turned on a light bulb, from almost darkness to the more familiar bright sunlight of Kings canyon.  
"Damm it and I was just starting to have fun." Revenant said, to no one, his sarcasm lost in the still thick snow beneath his feet.

As Loba opened her eyes this times, she had to quickly shut them again, as the sunlight made them sting. Realising all of a sudden, that she wasn't just warm, but almost to the point of sweating, she sat up and threw off the covers.  
"Wake up, it's over." She shouted almost springing up off their makeshift bed, and running to the window. She looked out at the receding white tundra. It still covered most of the ground, but she could see it running off the nearby roofs, and dripping down onto the melting snow.  
"What, oh thank god for that." Mirage said joining her at the window, and placing his hands on the sill.   
"Damm it feels so warm now." Loba said whipping at her forehead as beads of sweat had started to form there.  
"You think their going to crank up the heat again." Mirage asked also feeling the power of the sun through the glass of the window.  
"Wouldn't surprise me, we need to move, find the others, make a plan of action." Bangalore said, the woman seemed different, aloof somehow. She was not looking at either of them, and simply packing up her things.  
"Ok, but maybe they are coming back for us, I mean they know where we are." Mirage said thinking that finding Gibraltar and hound would be far more difficult than Bangalore thought it would be. After all they hadn't seen Wraith or the others since the fireballs, and that must have been two days ago now.  
"We should just get out of here." Anita then said, looking up briefly, and meeting Loba's eyes. It was enough to make the solider look away quickly, something Anita was not used to, but she just couldn't get the image of her and Mirage together.  
Loba frowned at her, but the look was lost as Bangalore went back to packing up her stuff. Mirage came up behind Loba and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned and offered him a small smile, but as she did she felt eyes on her once more.  
"Get ready we're moving out." Anita snapped at them and Loba had just about enough, after all she had just saved the woman's life.  
"What exactly is the matter with you?" Loba then asked trying to keep the acidity out of her voice.  
"Nothing just sick of this building." Anita snapped, somewhat embarrassed at her unprofessional behavior, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. Loba's face grew thunderous as Mirage virtually stepped between the two women.  
"Look we can go have a scout around, maybe we will run into them as we go." He said as Loba bent and snatched her things off the floor.  
"Fine." She said unable to get rid of the anger she felt, at what felt like complete ungratefulness from the solider.  
"Yeah sure, lets just get out of here." Bangalore said now pulling her pack onto her back and finally looking up to find Loba stood right in front of her.  
"What now thigh highs?" Anita said trying to dismiss her by walking past, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.  
"I don't know what the problem is, but you need to sort yourself out right now, we are only going to make it out of this together." Loba's voice was soft, she could see something was hurting the woman, not physically but emotionally. Loba decided that maybe a different approach would get through to her.  
"Looks like you have all the company you need." Anita replied her eyes flicking towards Elliot, as she, pulled her weapon on to her back, and again tried to step past the woman blocking the door.  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Loba said but before a reply could come, the door to their little room was flung open, and Revenant marched in, throwing what looked like a dead body on the floor.  
"Hey you skin bags want to deal with this." He said as Loba stopped and looked down at Gibraltar and gasped.  
"Damm it, come on." Loba said bending down and checking the mans vitals. He had a pulse but it was weak. His breathing was shallow and slow, but he was defiantly still alive.  
"Elliot hand me a syringe." Loba said holding out her hand as one was placed there. she looked up and saw Anita looking back down at her. For a second Loba thought the woman was going to be ok.  
"Ok Gibby it's all going to be ok." Loba said pumping the syringe into the mans chest. It was then she realised that his skin was ice cold.  
"He's got severe hypothermia, we need to get him warm." Loba said standing up and looking around.   
"We need to put him here in the sunshine." Mirage said pointing to where the sun was coming through the window, and Loba looked at Revenant.  
"Could you move him, please." She said not knowing what else to do, as Gibby was just to heavy for her.  
Revenant was for a second taken back by the softness in the woman's voice, he had heard it before, but never directed at him.  
"Yeah whatever girllie." He said, not wanting to let on how much it affected him, but still doing as she asked.  
"His clothes are wet, we need to get them off him, and wrap him in the blanket." Mirage said then, pulling at Gibraltar's shirt and stripping the man of his outer layers. Bangalore and Loba helped him, finally getting the big guy down to his underwear, and throwing the blanket over his body.  
"There isn't anything else we can do for him now, I guess we will just have to wait." Loba said as they all slumped down to the floor, emotionally and physically exhausted.

Crypto sat in his lab below the dome built above it. No one knew of this place, he had made sure of it. For a while he suspected that Loba knew something, but the woman had been distracted of late. He scanned the area, noting that Wraith and the others were close, just at watch tower west. They seemed to have been there a while, and it wasn't until Crypto risked sending out hack that he realised why. the world was covered in a tick blanket of snow. The temperature was registering a good 20 below zero and the wind was blowing up to 70 miles and hour. Crypto shivered even in his warm lab he could almost feel the chill.  
Now he waited, he was running an encryption program to try and access Hammond's main frame. Loba had been right about one thing, either they took down Hammond, or Hammond would take them down. Well not all of them, and if most of them were to die out there, then Crypto guessed that he would get a chance another day. A small pang of regret crept up on him, he shoved it away, knowing he had bigger reasons to take down the corporation than to just save a few lives.

Caustic was warm and surrounded by female bodies, on many an occasion this would be some kind of dream, but right now all he could think about was what was coming next. There was no reasoning behind Hammond's attacks, most just seemed to be exercises in survival, were they just simply trying to kill them all off for money, or was it something far more profound. Alexander also knew that they could not take much more of this. The girls were all exhausted, hungry and emotionally stressed. The fact that Crypto had left in the middle of the night was not helping. It was one thing to have Hammond coming after them, but to actually have someone betray them was different. It was more hurtful.  
As Alexander turned over he noticed that the room was lighter, and warmer. Then he saw the shaft of light falling through the hole above the now low fire. He got up, disturbing Wattson as he did so, and he gave the small woman a brief smile.  
"I think the round is over look." He said pointing to the rear window now as the sunlight came streaming in.  
"Thank goodness, I thought I was going to loose my toes." The French woman replied as Wraith sat up with a start and almost fell over the blanket she had been wrapped in.  
"Whats the matter?" She asked ever on edge as Lifeline also began to stir.  
"Nothing look. it's over." Wattson replied as Lifeline and Wraith joined her at the window. the snow had defiantly started to recede and the rooftops and stream were now easily visible.  
"We should pack up prepare to move. i;m guessing it wont be long until something else comes our way." Wraith said getting her things together as Caustic put out the fire.  
"I concur, but I also think we have to consider what Crypto is up to, and where he might have gone. He is a variable, one I do not like." Caustic said as they packed up what the needed and moved out onto the stairs.  
"I know but at the moment we have no idea where he went, or what he is up to. i wouldn't even know where to start." Wraith said then turning towards the dome in the distance.  
"Or maybe, what about there?" she said pointing towards the dome and the rest of them looked in that direction.  
"Perfect." Caustic replied making his way down the stairs and across the open land.

Loba sat in the corner, not knowing what else to do as Anita sat with Gibby who was starting to come round. Revenant had told them about Bloodhound, none of them were eager to go and find their body. From how Revenant had described Hound condition they were almost certainly dead. It wasn't something Loba wanted to see.  
"Come on robot, show me where Bloodhound is, I need to make sure you weren't wrong." Bangalore finally said standing up and giving Gibraltar a pat on the shoulder.  
"You'll be ok big guy, keep your eyes on these two for me, oh and don't move we will be back." Banglore said throwing on her pack and giving Revenant a look that would have anyone else stepping at double speed. Revenant just threw Loba look and moved out of the door muttering to himself. Loba shivered at that look, she still had not forgotten their time in the room, alone. It had however been pushed to the back of her mind until now.   
Quickly getting up and going over to keep Gibby company she crouched down beside him and gave him a warm smile.  
"How you feeling?" She asked but the sad look on the mans face said more than words even could.  
"I'll be ok, I just can't believe Hound is gone, I should have done more." He replied as Loba placed both hands on his shoulders and get the man too look at her.  
"I know you, and I know you would have done everything, including giving your own life. It's this place now, nothing here is safe." Loba said looking up as Elliot came over and sat beside her.  
"Well we are safe, I hope, I mean with each other." Mirage continued as Gibby placed a hand on the mans shoulder and smiled.  
"I know what you mean bruddah, and yes I feel safe with you guys, if you wanted me dead I would be right." His face held a smile, but his eyes were still full of sadness.  
"Look we will be out of here soon, we will find the others and we will end this one way or another. I have had an idea, or at least a suspicion of something." Loba said as Gibby threw the blanket off, now feeling stuffy in the warm room, and looking around for his clothes. Elliot passed him the now dry garments as he turned and looked at Loba.  
"Oh yeah you want to share?" He asked hoping the woman trusted them enough now to let them in on her thoughts.  
"Well when I destroyed kings canyon, and they exposed the underground labs, there was a room that was always locked." She said as Mirage sat down now properly on the discarded blanket.  
"Yeah we have been in there, there is nothing but a destroyed room, and some broken computers." He replied as Loba shook her head.  
"That's my point it looks destroyed, but why lock it, every time, and if you break in there is no loot. so people stopped going into that room. I think it's because that is where the tunnel leads above ground, blocked by the rubble, and probably behind a concealed door. If we can get to it, we could get inside." Loba finished as Gibby slapped her shoulder, it was meant to be playful but the man sometimes forgot his own strength. Loba almost fell on her ass as the blow rocked her backwards.  
"Sorry Bruddah, but that sounds like a great idea, we should move as soon as the others are back." At his words Loba's face fell, she had no problem with Anita joining them, but the demonio was a different story.  
"Maybe me and Elliot should do some recon first before the others get back, I mean I could be wrong, and a wasted journey." Loba quickly said but realised that would mean leaving Gibraltar alone.  
"Yeah we could go and be back in twenty minutes." Elliot said enthusiastically, and Loba was surprised by his enthusiasm.  
"I donno Bruddah do you think splitting up more would be a good idea." Gibraltar said skeptically as Mirage stood up and gathered his things.  
"I am sure Bang and Rev will be back soon, from where Rev said they were going, if we can get this thing sorted quicker the better. Before they send a horde of flying monkeys on us or something." Elliot replied as Gibby sighed. the man did have a point as Loba to stood up. Unable to believe they just accepted her suggestion, even though it was dangerous.  
"Ok we wont be long, and remember Anita will be mad so just blame me and I will sort it with her later." Loba said as Gibby to stood up, his legs a little shaky, and Loba paused, not wanting to leave the man alone if he still wasn't at full strength.  
"Hey you sure you're ok, I mean we can wait until the others are back." Loba said then hoping Gibraltar would tell them to leave. She wasn't disappointed.  
"No you go, find us away out of this, before more of us die." Gibby said then, and for the first time his voice held a seriousness to it that had Loba nodding.  
"I will." Was her reply and she and Elliot headed out the door into the bright sunshine.

When Anita saw Hounds body she knew they were gone. There was no need to get to close, but the woman felt like she owed them more. Bracing herself and walking over to the body, Anita pulled their R-301 from their holster. Turning Hound over she placed the gun on their chest, and their hand over then gun.  
"Be at piece Hound you fought with honor." She said a small tear falling onto their body before she swiped it away with the back of her hand. Standing up she scanned the area and noticed Revenant crouched on a rock above them.  
"Come on bolt bucket lets get back to the others." she shouted at him as he started to climb down and join her on the now almost dry desert sand.  
"You need to see your girlfriend, are you missing her." Revenant said his voice smooth and gloating.  
"Shut up." Anita snapped unwilling to get into it with him, but realising that her lack of response just confirmed the simulacrums suspicions.  
"I knew you wanted her, don't feel bad everyone wants her, that's what she is all about, I know I helped create her." Revenant said and Anita turned and looked at him. He was serious, he really believed that he made Loba who she was, and perhaps there was some truth in that.   
"What I want and don't want are none of your concern, but I warn you, you try and hurt her, and I will be there to stop you. I know something happened between you when we were fighting the specters, she said it was nothing, but I know something happened." Anita said now squaring up to the simulacrum, he did not back down.  
"Ha, whatever happened, you needn't concern yourself with it skin bag." Revenant said pushing past her and moving back towards the hut where they had left Gibby and the others.

Loba moved with the agility of a cat, hopping from rock to rock, and sliding her way down to the edge of the labs. Elliot couldn't help but admire her. She stood now outside the door, waiting for him, but also there was something else. She seemed haunted somehow, and in this moment Elliot wanted to do nothing but hold her and make everything better.  
"Come on lets move." She said as he approached her and she activated the door. It swung open and a musty smell came from below.  
"You sure about this, I mean I know your sure, but I don't know now we are here, something feels off." Elliot said as Loba turned to him and gave him a soft smile. At this moment she could have asked him for anything and he would have said yes.  
"We have to do something before any of the others die, we have to end this one way or another." She said placing her hand on his cheek and letting her nails lightly scratch through his beard.  
Elliot could do nothing but let her, he was transfixed by her eyes as she looked at him, neither of them noticed the growling coming from below them.

As Anita and Revenant approached the hut, they saw Gibraltar standing guard at the doorway. Anita knew something was up immediately, but before she could ask what had happened an announcement came over the canyon.  
"Commencing round 6."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Anita ran into the small building, pulling Gibby in behind her, not bothering to check if Revenant had followed them. The simulacrum had indeed done so, obviously in favor of not being left alone outside, after the announcement.   
It was quickly obvious that other than the three of them, the room was empty. Anita's eyes fell on Gibby who was looking somewhat uncomfortable. Anita didn't care, she demanded an explanation from the big man, he sighed and told her the entire story.  
"You what? so she decided to go off right now, I'm going to kill her, I'm going to wrap my hands round that pretty little neck of hers and squeeze until she sees sense. Or passes out which ever comes first." Anita raged pacing the room, and making Gibby step back at the force of her anger.  
"I mean she isn't alone, Elliot is with her, and they did say they would be back, only doing recon." He said trying to appease the solider, but it didn't seem to have the desired effect, in fact the opposite appeared to be true.  
"And what the hell was Witt thinking, oh I know actually, probably just looking for some alone time make out session. God damm it." Anita said virtually punching the wall, as the side of her fist met the concrete with a small whap.  
Laughing from the other side of the room caught Anita's attention, and she ignored the pain in her hand to look at Revenant who was still chuckling low in her voice box.  
"You skin suits are all the same, far more concerned with your precious feelings than getting on with the job." He said looking at the solider, but inside he was feeling the same turmoil that Anita was displaying openly. The fact that now Loba was alone with Elliot, and a new round had been announced did not sit well with the simulacrum. A cold fire descended upon his internal processors, a feeling he was familiar with, and yet seemed foreign and out of place. Jealousy, pure an simple, and yet at the same time he could not get rid of the feeling, even as he mocked the solider for the exact same emotion.  
"Shut up daemon." Anita snapped as she turned back to Gibby who was still looking uncomfortable, and like he just wanted to escape the small enclosed space.  
"You're even starting to sound like her now sergeant, careful she is special, you are not." Revenant said in a brief moment of honesty which he covered with a low growl and abruptly crouching in the corner staring out of the window.  
"How long since they left?" Anita then said filing away what Revenant had said, but now was not the time to question the robot.  
"About ten minutes ago, not long they should be there by now, and I bet after that announcement they will be headed straight back." Gibby said trying to keep the mood upbeat as Anita also turned and looked out of the window.  
"I wouldn't count on it."

Wraith, Lifeline, Wattson and Caustic made their way up the hill towards the dome. It had been quiet, almost too quiet, like the times in the game where you didn't see or hear another teams fir what felt like days. It gave each of them an uneasy feeling. Reaching the outer wall of the dome, they all heard the announcement. No one said anything, no one needed to. They had all done this before, there was nothing they could do until they knew what they were facing.  
"Well at least we have a pretty defendable position here." Wattson said as she pointed to the ocean which surrounded the entire rear of the facility. It was true if something was coming for them they could only approach from one side.  
"An excellent observation, but we must search the area, if Crypto is here we must locate him, and discover why he left." Alexander said as he made his way into the building and scanned the area. It seemed undisturbed. There was loot littering the ground, the doors were closed, and the air inside had a stagnant quality to it. And yet Alexander knew someone had been here, and maybe they still were.  
Wraith's eyes landed on the scanning beacon in the center of the dome, it was lit and appeared to be functioning. she quickly ran to it, her hands pushing against the activation button. A loud ping rang out as the device sent out its scanning wave, and to her eternal glee five red arrows appeared on the screen.  
"I've found them, look." She called out as the rest of her team joined her at the consol.  
"Five arrows, three here in what looks like the buildings outside bunker, and two here at the underground labs." Wattson said pointing to the arrows and then rubbing her hair away from her eyes.  
"Some one is missing." Lifeline said then counting in her head how many others there should be.  
"Or more than one if Crypto is with them and is one of these red arrows." Wraith said as her face fell into a dejected grimace. She knew it was more than likely that others had also fallen like Octane and Pathfinder, but now it was confirmed there was a sense of finality to it that made Wraith especially sad.  
It was then that a huge block of red started to descend down from the mountains near slum town. The arrows indistinguishable from one another, as a red mass appeared on the scanner. Then it went dark, the device timing out and remaining dark.  
"What ever is coming the others don't stand a chance, they are split up and vulnerable." Wraith said looking around at the rest of her team and realising that they were not in much better shape.  
"Can we regroup before whatever is coming gets here?" Wattson said before she felt a hand on her shoulder.  
"It is unlikely, unless we can get them all to come here, we are furthest away from what is coming, and in the most defendable position, but we have no way of contacting them. If we only had Crypto, and hack we could do it." Caustic said looking around and finally seeing something out of place. A small panel on the wall was askew, it was slight almost unnoticeable but defiantly there. He approached the panel, slotting his fingers into the small gap and pushing the panel aside.   
"What is it?" lifeline said as she approached him, and got a look at the small lever inside.  
"I am uncertain, but I guess we shall find out." Caustic said as he pulled the lever down and jumped back as the floor next to him retracted revealing a set of stairs.  
"Got you." Caustic said with a rye smile as the other joined him and peered into the darkness below.

Crypto knew they had found him, and knew that he didn't have long before he was going to have to explain himself, or risk getting shot on sight. He quickly sent the codes he had been writing, and had to just hope it would be enough. He could here the footsteps on the stairs now, and his back tensed with dread as finally Caustic appeared in the doorway his gun raised and a small chilling smile on his face.

Loba's hand lingered on Elliot's face for what was a beat to long to be considered a friendly gesture. Elliot's heart pounded in his chest, and he was about to take a step towards her when the announcement came.  
"Shit we have to move, we wont be safe out here alone." Loba said pulling her hand away from him fast and pulling out her Wingman instead. However much to Elliot's dismay the woman did not turn and run back towards the others, no she instead started to descend the stairs, and approach the door at the bottom.  
"What are you doing, we have to go." Elliot hissed, now feeling like any kind of noise could cause some kind of hell to descend upon them.  
"We are here now, we have to take a quick look, it will only take a second." Loba said as she raised her hand to retract the door. She was too slow, feeling herself being lifted and dumped onto Elliot's shoulder Loba struggled to set herself free.  
"Put me down, come on don't give up now." Loba said realising that when it came right down to it. He was far stronger than she was, and she could not release herself from his grasp.  
"Something isn't right Loba, we shouldn't go down there." Elliot said now placing her back on her feet at the top of the stairs. Mostly because he was afraid she might start clawing at him with her excessively long nails, but also there was only so much of having her backside in his face he could take.  
"Look I know this isn't the best timing, but we came here to do a job, we should finish it." She said now looking at him and holding his eye contact until Elliot sighed.  
"Ok, but we just look, we don't hang around, and we don't under any circumstances try and get in there." Elliot said now folding his arms across his chest and trying to look as confident as possible.  
"Ok hansom whatever you say, I promise." Loba replied with a small smile and Elliot couldn't help but melt as she placed her hand on his upper arm and squeezed. He knew it was an act, all a routine to get what she wanted, but something was telling him that the woman did in fact like him, it wasn't all just for show.  
Now they both descended the stairs once more, this time activating the door release and slowly entering the labs. Loba felt a chill run up her spine, and for the first time, she knew Elliot had been right. There was something very wrong down here, something which she had been oblivious too. Mostly because she had been focused on her goal, but also and this was something she wasn't going to admit out loud. She had been ignoring it.  
"I have a bad feeling about this." Elliot said as he saw Loba crouch and point her gun down the narrow hall.  
"Yes well, whatever it is we will handle it." Loba replied in a small acknowledgement of his unease. It somehow made Elliot feel better, and he copied her stance. Crouching low and making their way along the hall.  
There was a distinct smell down here, it reminded Elliot of wet dog, and he wondered what could be making that aroma. It wasn't long before they found out, as Loba pushed open the door before them. She edged it open slowly, her head poking through the crack to take a look inside. The light from the portal illuminated the room, and the light fell upon something she had never seen before. She sat back, allowing the door to click shut and turned to look at Elliot who was looking at her with confusion.  
"What is it?" he asked but he saw her shake her head and now he was really worried.  
"I don't think you want to know." She said as she indicated towards the door, and Elliot got the message. Leaning forward now, and copying Loba's actions he peered around the door jam and saw what had the woman next to him leaning up against the wall.  
It seemed to be sleeping, but in a standing up position. It was huge about double that of a prowler. It was fury, with along tapered snout. It's sharp teeth protruding from its upper lip and descending below the lower one. Its shoulders were huge curving upwards into a wither that stood above the short powerful back, descending into strong hind legs, and finished off with wickedly sharp claws. It was like a prowler and a werewolf had had babies. It was a killing machine, and Elliot shuddered as he let the door close behind him.  
"Ok that's it we are not going in there, who knows what kind of fire power it would take to get that thing down." Elliot then said turning to Loba who had a grenade in her hand.

"Why is it here Elliot, why leave something like that down here if not to protect something. I think they know exactly what we had planned and placed that here to stop us. Which means I was right, which means we could end this, and maybe save our friends lives. Who knows what this round is going to bring, but one thing I do know is that we can't carry on for much longer. We will all die eventually, one by one or all at the same time. It's what Hammond wants, they have already chosen their winners, the rest of us are just here for the show." Loba intoned as Elliot finally nodded, knowing that the woman was ultimately right.  
"Shouldn't we at least try and get the others, we could easily take this thing down then." Elliot said, still feeling like this was a bad idea to go in just the two of them.  
"There isn't time, plus who knows what's going on out there, could be a hurricane for all we know. We are here, we can do this I know we can." Loba said her hands now resting on his shoulders, making Elliot face her entirely and his eyes locked with hers.  
"I can't watch you die." He said then in a moment of honesty that made Loba's stomach flutter a little. Elliot's eyes never left her own, and it was the first time she could remember him doing that. Usually he looked away with embarrassment, or blushed or just simply left the room. Now though he looked at her, open vulnerable, and she couldn't help herself. Leaning forward slightly, she place her lips over his, and gently kissed him. 

Elliot couldn't believe she was kissing him again, but this time it was different. Where the last one had been desperate, almost bruising, this was soft gentle, and full of something far deeper. He risked moving his hands to her waist as they knelt on the cold hard floor. Only meters from something that would likely tear them apart of it found them. Elliot didn't care at this moment, as he ran his hands along her sides, the heat from her body seeping into him as her tight clothes afforded him the luxury of feeling her full figure beneath his hands. Loba's lips parted slightly as Elliot took quick advantage and plunged his tongue into her mouth. The small moan that fell from her lips excited him and he inched forward. shuffling on his knees until his body was almost pressed flush against hers, if it wasn't for the knees that was.   
It was dark in the corridor, only a feint light from the central room illuminated them, and Elliot wished he could see her better, but he was not going to complain. This was more than he had ever dreamed of and he wasn't going to do anything that might put and end to this moment. Even here in this dark, cold and somewhat bleak setting.  
Loba was still kissing him, her hands wrapped around his neck, and Elliot couldn't stop himself any longer. He had to touch her, had to be as close as possible. His hands made their way around to her front, one hand cupping her encase breast, the other holding on to her hip as Loba finally pulled away and sat back on her haunches.  
Elliot cursed himself, he had gone to far and now he had scared her. He opened his mouth to form some kind of apology, but Loba raised her hand and wiped her lips.  
"Don't beautiful, It's not you it's me, we can't do this now, as much as I want to, we have a job to do. When this happens, I don't want it to be in a dark hallway surrounded by animal stink and death." Loba said then her hand coming back briefly to his face before she pulled away and climbed back to her feet.  
Elliot was momentarily stunned, she didn't say if she said when, which meant she wanted him, which meant he was going to get through this no matter what. He climbed to his feet with her, and dug around in his pack, finding three thermites and an arch star.  
"You ready?" He said giving her a small smile before she nodded and they pushed open the door together.

"Wait let my try and explain, I wasn't trying to betray you, I was trying to stay under the radar. I couldn't have Hammond following us here, I needed time to set up my encryptions." Crypto said as Caustic stood in the doorway, still looking at him with distrust. The others came into the small room, a smile on the face of Wattson who was obviously pleased to see him at least.  
"Did you succeed?" Alexander asked as Crypto dropped his hands to his sides and sighed.  
"In part, I have managed to upload some codes to give me limited control over their systems, but it will take time to work. Their technology is very sophisticated, and they are monitoring it constantly. Remotely hacking in would never give me full access, we would need a main frame terminal for that." He said looking dejected but his mood was altered by what Wraith said next.  
"We have found the others, well we know where they are, we used the scanner upstairs, and they are split up. Three are near bunker, and two by the underground labs, but that doesn't matter if we can't contact them. Which we must do as something is coming, or more precisely lots of somethings. We saw a wave of activity before the scanner turned off, whatever is out there, they don't stand a chance." The void jumper said now moving to the center of the room and folding her arms across her chest.  
"If you are with us, can you help us get them here." Her voice was calm smooth, but Crypto saw the trepidation in her eyes as she looked at him.  
"Of course I can send Hack, they cannot communicate through him, but I bet I can get them to follow him back here." Crypto said now happy that he could prove his loyalty, and jumping into action. He pushed past Caustic who was still silent and brooding, but had lost his hard face, and ran up the stairs.  
Crypto didn't need to look behind him to know the others were following him, here could here their clear footfalls on the metal floor.  
Getting up to the roof he deployed hack and sent him out across the arena.

Anita was almost in a panic now, it had been twenty minutes and there was still no sign of Loba or Elliot. She knew something had gone wrong, or the idiots were trying to do something they probably shouldn't. A small voice inside her thought they could be doing something else, something she had no wish to linger on, and yet the thought kept coming back unbidden into her mind. She knew it was ridiculous to think that even Elliot wouldn't be stupid enough to try and take Loba off for a quick fuck somewhere around Kings canyon, not under these circumstances. To top it off Loba just wouldn't let him. The woman was nothing if not single minded, and if they had gone for the labs, she had gone for the main frame. Instead however of just doing recon, like they had told Gibby, they had gone and tried to get inside, and it was likely that they were in trouble.  
"We have to go and find them, something has gone wrong." Anita finally said turning to Gibby who was nodding at her, obviously coming to the same conclusion. Anita knew they had limited time, with the recent announcement she knew that what ever was coming would be here soon, and if they were going to move they would have to go now. Her thoughts however were interrupted by the door banging open and a somewhat irritated Revenant standing in the door way.  
"You want to come and look at this skin bags." He said stalking back out the door, and giving the pair no option but to follow.  
Anita saw the drone first, then Gibby spotted it and clapped his hands together.  
"We are back in business bruddahs." He said walking up to the drone, which bobbed up and down.  
"I think we need to follow it." Gibraltar said as hack moved off towards the north of the island, then returned when they did not move.  
"Yeah I bet Crypto his guiding us back to where they are, but we can't leave Loba and Elliot out here alone." Anita said torn between meeting up with the rest of her team, and finding her missing squad mates.  
"I here ya, but maybe when we find the others we can get Crypto to locate them, as he did us, and then we will all be back together." Gibraltar said now feeling exposed out here in the open, a feeling of foreboding descending upon him as the wind whipped sand into his face.  
"We maybe too late by then, but I guess we have no choice, we can't miss this opportunity to find the others. who knows how long Crypto can have hack online." Anita replied knowing that ultimately it had been their choice to leave, and they would have to live with the consequences of that decision.  
"I will find them." The voice surprised Anita, and the tone in which it was delivered. It didn't hold Revenants usual abruptness, but was softer, almost kind in its delivery.  
"I can move faster than you skin suits, I can get them and follow you back." He said looking at their faces and knowing that his offer had surprised them. Revenant had no intention of explaining himself however, and he simply turned and started running towards Loba's and Elliot's last know location.

"They are coming, well Bangalore and Gibraltar are any way. Revenant ran off, I think to try and locate the other two. I saw no sign of Loba, Mirage or Hound, I am guessing two of them are at the labs." Crypto said still eyes on Hack and making sure that Anita and Gibby were still following them.  
"Any sign of what we saw on the scanner?" Wattson asked as Crypto briefly looked at her before setting his eyes back on his screen.  
"Not yet, whatever it is, they are taking their time. Which in my book doesn't bode well." He said as Caustic nodded his head behind him.  
"We must prepare this place for a battle, I have concluded that as there has been no weather change, then according to the pattern this will be another enemy to defeat. I suggest we get ready." Alexander said as Wraith and Lifeline both started to gather supplies from around the building, as he remained with Wattson on the roof.  
"We will need your expertise in defending the area, I suggest you go inside and start preparing." He said looking down at the small woman with soft eyes as she looked right back at him.  
"Yes Dr I will do my best." She replied moving into the building and starting to prepare their defenses.

Loba threw her grenade before the door had even fully opened, and Elliot followed it with a thermite. allowing the door to bang closed and taking cover they heard the loud bang before the ensuing cries of the beast beyond the doorway.  
"Again." Loba said as she pulled out an arch star and pushed open the door again. Not really looking where she was throwing it, she was blown back as the door in front of her shattered and a large tail swiped past her head.  
Elliot tossed his second thermite without thinking before diving on top of Loba to protect her from the blast. It wasn't that he thought she was week, or that he was better than her. No it was something far deeper than that, something men seemed to have woven into their DNA, even after eons of evolution. They had to protect women from harm, especially ones they liked, maybe even something more. Elliot felt the woman trembling under him as the blast went off and dust flew around his face.  
He held on to her tighter then fearing that she was injured. It wasn't until her hand pushed against his chest that he realised that she wasn't trembling in fear, but shaking with anger and adrenaline.  
"Let me up we have to finish this thing." she shouted in his ear, as she used all of her strength to move him out of her way. Loba stood gun out, body tense as she dove through the doorway and started firing at the beast that was running around tail whipping at the air, defending itself against something it could not see. Then it stopped, and locked eyes with the woman aiming her gun at it.  
Elliot could see that nothing they had thrown at it had done any damage, and he knew they had to have hit it, the room was too small and the beast too large not to have done.  
"Oh shit Loba no back up now!" Elliot screamed as Loba fired off the entire clip of her R-301, sending up a spray of bullets and dust. The creature howled, but it wasn't in pain it was in anger, as a clawed hand swiped out narrowly missing Loba's face and she jumped backwards. In the haze she saw that the creature was undamaged by her onslaught, its skin unpenetrated by the bullets' and its face a picture of hatred as it looked at her once more.  
"It, we can't kill it, its bullet proof." Elliot shouted at the beast claws tapped on the ground, a clacking noise over the low growl it was now emitting. It was leaning back on its haunches getting ready to pounce, and Elliot did they only thing he could.  
Sending out his army of holograms he quickly pulled Loba back through the ruined doorway and into a small alcove behind them. He could hear the creature attacking his holograms, and could only wince at the sound of the beasts claws as they struck the concrete when they were met with nothing but air.  
"Elliot we have to think of something, we must get inside that lab, I know the key to all of this is in there now, I am certain of it." Loba said climbing back to a crouched position after being dumped on her backside.  
"We can't. What can we hit it with, our guns don't work, our grenades' didn't work." Elliot then said thinking the woman mad or concussed.  
"Yes but your holograms did, perhaps we can distract it whilst we break in. I can do it fast I just need a few moments." She said then as Mirage looked at her with amazement. She was nothing if not determined, and also probably right. It was likely that even if they left, the beast would follow them, bringing down its hell on the rest of them in the process.  
"Ok but we have to be smart about this, we may only have a few seconds before it knows it's been tricked." Mirage said as he looked her over and then pulled off two of his emitters.  
"Here now I can send a decoy of you too, but remember it will copy your movements so don't do anything to flashy." Mirage said wondering if Loba was planning on using her bracelet to get to the door.  
"Ok, so I guess we need it to go over to the opposite side of the room, we will need to keep it there for as long as possible and we will have to stick together or one of us may get locked out." Loba said, a warning in her voice to let Elliot know that once in they would have to close and barricade the door behind them. If he was too slow, or got left outside there would be no escape.  
"Ok so I guess on three, we get as close to the door as possible before releasing the decoys." Elliot said as they now crept forward only to see a snout poking through the doorway, one which was not large enough to omit the creature, but Elliot suspected if it wanted out it would simply smash through the frame.  
"Looks like its now or never." Loba said pulling out her final thermite, she was going to at least drive the creature from the door, before they tried this.  
"Ok do it." Elliot replied as Loba tossed the thermite, which struck the creature fully on its wet glistening nose. The beast scurried backwards, its head shaking from side to side as it tried to put out the flames on the end of its face. It was the perfect distraction, as Mirage sent out his decoys, and watched as a copy of himself and Loba ran across the room.  
The creature saw it too, and turned to swipe at the decoys. They moved silently behind it, sweeping across the room until they were almost halfway to the door. Then a rush of hot breath, and a slash of hardened sharp claw came slicing towards them. Both of them slid across the floor, ducking under the razor sharp claws, and almost making it back to the doorway before the creature was almost on top of them.  
The decoys hadn't worked, the beast had to soon realised that it had been deceived, and had located them before they could execute their plan. Loba was on her knees looking up at the beast as it raised its heavy and wickedly sharpened hand in her direction. She glanced at Elliot who was still on his back, attempting to climb back up and come to her aid. She knew he would be too late. He had made more distance than she had, and now was battling with the door frame that was in his way.  
Loba wanted to close her eyes, she certainly didn't want to see Elliot's face as she broke her promise, and he had to watch her die. Something however kept her eyes open and trained on the creature. Its eye was bright yellow, glinting in the light from the portal. There was no pupil only light, it was unblinking, and looking directly down at her. It had no feelings only intent, and it intended to end her right now.

Then a bright light snapped across her field of vision, the creature let out a howl, this time of pain and Loba felt herself being lifted again, and carried out into the hallway once more. At first Loba thought Elliot had gotten to her, then she realised that the body carrying her was all to familiar. It was cold metal and had sharp edges.  
Before she could protest, Revenant dropped her beside Elliot in a side room. She landed hard on her backside for what felt like the millionth time that day.  
"What the hell?" she shouted trying to stand but the simulacrum was on her in an instant pushing her down.  
"No no no, you don't get to die before you end this, before you end me." He said as Loba looked over to Elliot who seemed dazed, and only half conscious next to her.  
"What have you done to him?" She asked before realising what he had said.  
"He hit his head, wasn't me, it doesn't matter, I will kill this thing, you take him and you go finish what you started, three hundred years as this, this thing is enough." Revenant said now pointing to his metal body, and then looking back at her.  
"Why?" she questioned as he moved closer to her, so close in fact that she could see the subtle infections in his optical sensors.  
"Because I am finished with being what I am, I need it to end, to end this torture. I want things, things I cannot have." He said looking down at her, his eyes scanning her entirety before returning to her face, and Loba got the message loud and clear. The revulsion she expected to feel however was replaced by one of utter pity.  
"Now go before I change my mind." He said before leaning forward and pressing his mouth against hers. It was a strange version of a good bye kiss, for he did not have lips, and he was cold, but Loba suspected in his own way this was all he could give. She simply let him, not returning the gesture, but not denying him either. It was almost as though they had come full circle, and now it was her turn to fulfill both their desires. To bring and end to the thing that ruined her life so many years go, a thing that now wanted exactly what she had always desired.  
Revenant stood up, pulling Loba with him, and then turned and got Elliot on his feet. The man was still dazed but as his eyes met with the two people standing before him, his brain cleared a little and he shook himself.  
"Where the hell did you come from?" He asked but Loba hushed him quickly as they made their way back towards the beast and Loba filled him in on Revenants plan. Minus the task of ending his life.  
"Ok so how do you plan on killing this thing?" Elliot said as Revenant sent out another silence towards the creature. It actually seemed to hurt the best for some reason and Loba felt that this might just work.  
"Because you can't kill what is already dead." Revenant hissed as he pulled up his totem, and then dived into the room.  
"Go now." Loba hissed shoving Elliot in the back as they sprinted for the doorway at the side of the room. It was as usual locked, and no amount of kicking could get it open. The noise coming from behind them was almost deafening, as Revenant battled with the creature. Several times they had to duck and cover, as a tail or a claw would come a little to close for comfort. It was then Loba spotted the crack under the door. It was wide enough to teleport through, but there was two of them, she could not leave Elliot alone, especially if Revenant didn't win this fight.  
"We have to teleport inside, I can see no other way of doing it." She said then taking a glance behind her and seeing Revenant land in a heap against the wall as the beast threw him across the room. Her mind made up then she wrapped Elliot in her arms. His own going around her without hesitation.  
"You're coming with me, but I have no idea what will happen when we rematerialize." She said looking into his eyes, before pulling off the bralette and tossing it through the gap under the door.

TBC.....  
So much thanks for all the kudos and comments on this story, it has been a labor of love and I can only apologize for the time it took to update. Be patient I will be updating as quickly as I can.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16- Battle grounds pt1

Revenant shook his head, his optical sensors flashing white for a few moments before kicking back in. It was just in time as he saw a large clawed paw coming straight for his head. Rolling to the left and scurrying out of the way, he noticed the light from Loba's teleport out of the corner of his eye. He briefly wondered if teleporting with two would even work, or if they would be normal on the other side. He did not have time to ponder the issue for long, as the creature came at him once more.  
Leaping onto the beasts back, Revenant deployed his knife hand, and stabbed down at the beasts neck. His arm bounced off the creatures hide, causing him to be pushed backwards and back onto the floor.  
"Damm beast, why won't you just die." Revenant said as he deployed his silence once more, and the creature backed off. He wondered why that hurt it so much, where is knife and guns were so ineffective. He then locked eyes with the creature, staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity. In reality of course it was only a second or two before the beast moved. Striking out again with its claws, Revenant dodged it, but barely, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer, he had to end this. There was only one real soft part to the beast, It was going to take some skill to get too but Revenant knew he had no choice. Crouching and moving from side to side, he watched as the creature latched its unblinking gaze onto him. Body tense ready to strike, Revenant got his arm ready and feinted to the left, as the creature tried to block him, Revenant leapt right, Latching onto one of the creatures pointy ears, and dug in his claws. Feet finding purchase on the beast snout. He pulled back his arm and plunged it into the creatures eye. An ear splitting howl rose from the beast, It echoed around the room, making Revenant wince, but he pushed the blade in further, until it was berried up to his shoulder. The beast wailed trying to shake its head to loosen its attacker from it, but Revenant held fast, then he felt the beast rise into the air, both paws then wrapping around his torso, as the creature stood on it's hind legs and wrenched Revenant from its face. Revenant felt his metal torso crack, then his circuits start to burn out as the creatures claws dug into his side until he could no longer feel the lower half of his body.  
As the claw finally pernitrated his chassis and Revenant could do nothing but let oblivion take him the creature fell back to the floor, the claws letting go as it finally succumbed to the gaping wound in its eye. All Revenant could do was watch from his prone position in the dark room, as the light went out first in the beast eye, then in his own.

Anita and Gibby followed Hack all the way to the dome, there was a moment of happy reunion before the sad news was shared of their fallen comrades. A moment of silence followed, as everyone dealt with the new information. Anita couldn't help but turn her thoughts back to Loba and Elliot, they weren't dead yet, or at least not when the others had seen them on the scanner.  
"Hey you think you could send Hack out to find the others, I think they might have gone for the control rooms, but we could still get them back here, if they knew we needed them." Anita said turning to Crypto who nodded and sent Hack out once more. Anita knew they were too late that something had happened, but she also knew they had to try. Moving over to the wall now and leaning heavily against it she was brought from her thoughts by Wraith's hand on her shoulder.  
"She will be alright, she is a survivor." The void jumper said as Anita shook her off and stood up straight.  
"She's and stubborn idiot, and Elliot too for following her and not talking sense to the woman. I just don't like to loose members of my team, not in my nature." Anita said and she realised her anger gave more away than she had intended as Wraith gave her a soft smile.  
"Never leave a man behind A. Well I get it, or at least I understand, but right now, we need you, this thig that is coming, well things that are coming, will take all of us working together to defeat. I have a feeling we are coming to the end game now, and not all of us are going to make it out of this one." Wraith said wanting to reach out and comfort her friend, but refraining from doing so as Anita did not look like she wanted the comfort at this moment.   
Just as Anita was about to reply Crypto's voice rang out through the dome.  
"I have found Revenant, and what looks like a large dead creature." Everyone almost ran to his location on the roof before the man looked up at them and sighed.  
"Revenant is dead, his life signs are absent, and Loba and Elliot seem to be missing." Crypto said feeling bad for delivering only bad news, and while no one was likely to morn the death of the simulacrum, they could have used his help for what was to come.  
"Missing what do you mean?" Anita said now feeling panic settle in the pit of her stomach as Crypto turned to her, his eyes help pity and it made Anita even angrier than before.  
"I mean I cannot locate them, they are off the grid, somewhere I cannot reach." He replied as Anita started pacing the roof before Ajay placed her hands on her shoulders and held her still.  
"It does not mean they are dead, in fact it most probably means they made it inside, which could be a good thing, if they succeeded in hacking into Hammonds control room, then we maybe able to stop what is coming for us." Ajay finished not letting go of the solider no matter how much she tensed and opened and closed her fists. Ajay knew the woman would never hurt her. Oh they killed each other for a living, but they all knew it wasn't permanent, until now. Now Ajay knew Anita would rather die than lay a finger on her.  
"Yeah and if they have been eaten by that beast Crypto was talking about then what?" Anita said unable to think about the bright side at the moment as Ajay looked at her with raised brows.  
"Then we fight, and we win, for everyone of the lost." She said thinking about Octane, and then looking at her friend. Anita nodded at her, she knew the woman was hurting over her childhood friend, and she knew she had no right to put her fear over that sadness.  
"Ok ammo up everyone, Crypto see if you can get a fix on those incoming bogies, Wattson start laying a defense perimeter, Caustic follow her with your traps, put them far enough out so we don't get affected by them. Wraith look for a good position to set an escape route should we need one. Gibby find an ultimate accelerant and get your bombardment ready. Lifeline set up a triage below, make sure you have enough supplies, take everyone's med kits, leave only syringes for the battle ground." Anita said looking from face to face as they nodded at her. Feeling a bit better now Anita moved to the edge of the roof, the wind blowing her short hair back from her forehead. There was a smell almost a taste on the win, It was acrid, metallic, and almost damp. It reminded Anita of death, she knew as she took a deep breath she probably wasn't wrong.

Loba felt the familiar tingle of rematerialisation, she quickly did a self assessment. She could fell Elliot's arms still wrapped around her, and could feel his strong back under her own fingers. As her vision adjusted to the darkness, she looked at Elliot's face. He had a dopy grin there, and his hands roamed her back.  
"What a rush." He said then looking down at himself, obviously doing his own inspection, making sure that everything was in the right place. Loba stepped back and smiled at him, her hands dropping from his waist, as she looked around to see where they had ended up. The corridor was a mess of rubble and hanging wires. It was dark, but not completely, there was a feint light coming from a room at the end of the corridor.  
"This way." Loba said whispering in the darkness, and she knew Elliot was following her as she crept down the dark hallway. She had no desire to run into another one of those creatures. Even though she was pretty sure there was nothing here, one could never be to cautious. Stopping at the doorway, Elliot then crashed into her, his chest colliding with her back, pushing her forward almost onto her face, before his strong arms wrapped around her and stopped her fall.  
"Sorry, its just pretty dark." He said his arms remaining around her waist, and Loba turned slightly and gave him a withering smile.  
"If I didn't know any better I would say you did that on purpose." She said as even in the low light he could see the blush rise on Elliot's cheeks, before he pulled his arms from her and scratched at his own head.  
"Umm no, I mean I would come up with something better." He said with a slight grin before Loba raised her eyebrow, and then shook her head.  
"Come on lets go." Loba finally said knowing that however much she wanted to continue this conversation, this was neither the time, or the appropriate location. There was more than just their lives riding on this, even more than the rest of their friends on the service, this was the end game, win or loose it would all be over soon.

"What is it!" Wattson cried as a field of red came across the horizon, and Anita didn't need Crypto to confirm what she already knew. Wraith's vision had come true, they always did. Hundreds of Revenants filled down the hill and across watch tower North. the metallic grind of their limbs could be heard even at this distance. It made Anita shiver as she watched them come, there was nothing more they could do. They were as prepared as they were ever going to be, and yet Anita knew that it still might not be enough, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew that Loba and Elliot might be their only hope.

Loba walked through the dimply lit room, it was lit because there was a emergency exit sign hanging above the door they had entered through. Its light low but constant in the darkness of the room beyond. The power system must be on a different circuit from everything else, she concluded as they made their way to the door at the opposite end of the room.  
"You want to do the honors?" Loba said stepping back and letting Elliot approach the doorway. He looked at it dubiously, before deciding that he could at least send in a decoy first. Opening the door a crack, he sent out his hologram, and waited for the ensuing gun fire. None came, there was nothing but silence as the pair stood there and listened.  
"I think we are ok." Elliot said before pushing the door open more fully, and finding nothing but a stair case. It led down into what looked like total darkness, as the light from another sign above the door they were standing next to, did not reach into its murky depths.  
"You want to go down there?" Elliot questioned, feeling a sense of fear start to rise within him. He didn't want Loba to know but he was pretty afraid right now, this was way beyond what he was used to, and he wasn't sure what to do next.  
"We have to, I don't like it either, but we can't go back, we have to finish this." Loba said now stepping past Elliot and heading slowly but surely down the stair case. Elliot stood there for a moment, before Loba disappeared into the darkness, and he quickly followed, not wanting to loose sight of her. not only because he didn't want to be left alone in the dark, but he didn't want her to be alone either.  
Elliot grabbed Loba's hand, right before she opened the door at the bottom of the staircase. It was almost pitch black down here, just a tiny bit of light lingered so he could just make out her frame against the darker background of the hallway. It was probably a good thing that he couldn't see her eyes properly, but also he needed to see her.  
"Wait I need to tell you something." Elliot then said his confidence boosted by the darkness, he knew she couldn't see his blush or awkward shuffling.  
Loba sighed she couldn't help it, as much as she wanted to hear what Elliot said, she was not sure she could deal with emotions right now. Loba remained silent knowing that Elliot needed this right now, and who was she to deny him, a couple of minutes wouldn't make too much difference, not if it meant he could be focused on the task at hand.  
"I need you to know that if we get through this I would like us to become something more, something more than what we are. I really like you, and I hope the feeling is mut mute..."  
"Mutual." She finished for him before giving his hand a small squeeze.  
"If we get out of this I promise we will get the chance to find out." Loba replied as she felt Elliot deflate next to her, his breath coming out long and slow as he gave her hand a squeeze back. He did not drop the contact however, but remained silent. Loba took this as her que to keep moving and she slowly opened the door.

Anita was dazed by a bombardment of silences, her vision impaired as she tried to run inside the dome. Firing aimlessly at the throng of simulacrums below her. The rest of them had gotten away while she covered their retreat, but now she was alone, and they were coming for her. she could hear their clawed fingers as they scurried up the side of the building. Anita blinked to clear her vision, and almost crawled inside before a pair of strong hands grabbed her and pulled her the rest of the way in. She heard rather than saw Wattson's fence set into place before any of the drones followed her inside.  
"I think its safe to say they have Revenant's abilities, but maybe not his intelligence. some of them have fallen into the sea." Crypto said as he looked down at the ensuing throng through Hacks sensors.  
"Good at least we wont have to deal with them talking to us while they kill us." Anita said bitterly, as the silence wore off and her senses came back.  
"Is your ult ready Gibby?" she asked the big man who was guarding the door. He turned to her with a slight shake of the head.  
"No Bruddah but it is close, if only Loba was here I could grab another accelerant." He said before regretting his words as Anita's face turned sad then thunderous.  
"Well she isn't so I guess we will just have to make do." She snapped as scratching now came from beyond the door. metal claws on the glass as cracks started to appear from the pressure building up behind.  
"Look out they are coming in." Wraith then stated as finally the glass gave way and the drones started to pour over one another to get inside. Each getting shocked by Wattson's fence, and dropping forward, pressure from behind causing them to fall over one another, before more of the doorway broke down. Now the larger entrance allowed the drones to enter, slowed only by the fences, but not stopped.  
Time seemed to slow down for Anita, she watched as one by one the Revenant copies entered the dome, their eyes hollow, their claws raised, and mechanical bodies wiring in the almost silence surrounding the Legends. then she felt a hand on her collar as she was pulled backwards and out of range of Caustics traps, which went off as soon as they landed. Anita watched as some of the drones fell. Some started walking in the wrong direction, and some kept right on coming for them.  
"Open fire!" She called as everyone began the onslaught, fighting back the drones, but they kept on coming. More and more pilled through the doorway. Wattson's fence went down, and they had to back up as she set new ones. Not for the first time Anita wished all her team were here, all fighting together, even Revenant, who would know at least these things weaknesses. She looked around at the six faces surrounding her. Six out of thirteen, all that was for certain left of what once was her family. Anita clenched her fists, and let rip with her R-99 decimating half off the drones coming in through the doorway before finding an opening to toss out the rolling thunder. If none of them made it through this, there was no way she was going to let anyone say she went down without a fight.

As Loba pushed open the door way she saw light, some blinking some constant, but light none the less. It was coming from a console at the side of the room. She headed towards it, her eyes raking the computer before settling on the display which had a single word on it.  
'Ready'  
It blinked at her, awaiting input and her fingers found the interface and she began typing. her hands flying over the keyboard faster than Elliot could see.  
"How do you know what to do." He asked as the screen flashed information, code and then finally a main menu.  
"Jamie, he was a good teacher, and a good friend." Loba said as Elliot looked at her with a slight worried expression, until she mentioned the word friend.  
"I see, so what have we got?" He asked not really sure what he was looking at but he had a vague idea that they were connected to Hammonds mainframe, from the icons on the screen, and the selections in the menu.  
"Looks like this is a remote terminal incase people got trapped here escaping to the surface. All we have to do is get inside the files and shut down the system, that should stop whatever is happening up there. I'm not sure however if we can stop it permanently, not without destroying the main system. It should buy us enough time however to get inside." Loba said still working on the interface and finding the file she needed. She brought it up, as Elliot looked at it and smiled.  
'Kings canyon interface, protocols, and event timings.'   
Loba clicked on it and saw the itinerary for what had happened to them, and what was happening right now. She gave a small shudder as Elliot placed his hand on her shoulder.  
"Can you stop it?" he asked as Loba connected with the computer and tried entering a termination command. Then the alarms sounded, the lights on the console going red as she tried again to override the system.  
"Damm it not again." She hissed as she tried several encryption codes as the alarms continued to sound, blocking out the noise of the approaching soldiers.  
It was almost too late before Elliot noticed the men dressed in full combat gear bursting through the door. He pulled away from Loba shoving her against the back wall as he did so, pushing her out of the line of fire, which had already begun. Elliot drew his weapon, sent out his decoys and began shooting.  
Anita was lost in a hail of gunfire, and moving clanking bodies. the dome was filled with gun smoke and energy beams. Ducking below another silence, Anita caught another drone in the chest and knocked him to the floor. The ground was littered with bodies, making it hard to maneuver, and Anita found herself left behind as her team retreated further into the dome.  
"Anita, come on!" She heard Wraith cry as the woman ran across the room, taking a few of the simulacrums with her.  
"Heard that." Anita called as she picked her way through the mess of metal below her feet, and reached the door at the rear. Then she felt pain, an all encompassing pain that started at her shoulder and ran the length of her spine. Anita fell to the floor, her legs no longer working as a numbness filled her limbs.  
"I'm down!" she called, but over the noise she wondered if her team even heard her. A foot then stood on her outstretched arm, causing her to cry out and snatch the limb back. Her vision started darken at the edges, she blinked trying to clear the fog, but it did nothing to stop the tunnel vision that was coming. Now she felt a hot sticky substance run down her side, and Anita knew it was her own blood. She pushed the fear aside and began dragging herself towards her team, her legs next to useless as her arm did all the work, in moving her broken body forwards.  
Reaching the doorway, and noticing that it was almost clear of bodies Anita felt feet around her but the drones were ignoring her, assuming she was not worth killing at this point, instead going after her still alive, still fighting teammates. As Anita's hand fell on the doorway she felt pressure between her shoulder blades, there was no real pain only a dull burning sensation as the world finally faded to black.

Loba hit the wall, the wind being knocked out of her briefly before she fell to the floor and grunted with the impact. Her body was more battered and bruised than it ever had been in her life, but she groped for the wall, trying to pull herself back upright. Looking up Loba noticed the soldiers trying to pile through the door way, as Elliot sent suppressing gunfire at them. They were backlit by the light from the room beyond, making them easy targets, as Loba remained hidden in a dark corner. Elliot had done a good job of keeping her out of the way, but Loba could fight. It's what she did, after all she was a Legend and pretty proficient in combat.   
Finally getting her knees under her she got to a crouched position and pulled out her R-301. she noticed her ammo reserve was very low, but it didn't matter, as she saw Elliot dodge and dive a hail of bullets now getting closer and closer to his position. Loba began firing, hitting at least three, before they made her position and she had to move. Rolling to her left and finding her feet again she sent out more suppressing fire as she made cover behind a desk.

It was only a moment before Elliot joined her behind the desk, reloading his R-99 and looking at her. "How you doing for ammo?" he asked and she grimaced at him.  
"Not good you?" She questioned as he looked right back at her and offered her a small sad smile.  
"Probably worse, maybe its time for another teleport." He suggested. Loba looked behind her, back up the dark staircase. They could probably make it to the top, but the soldiers would be right behind them. With nothing to stop them moving freely through the room, they would be on them in moments. There was also no cover in the dark stairway they would be sitting ducks.  
"No we make our stand here." Loba said as Elliot nodded at her, having probably come to a similar conclusion. Loba then stood up appearing from behind the desk, fire coming from her R-301 before she had even sighted the soldiers, it was cover fire more than anything but she saw at least one guy go down, before pain crashed through her left shoulder. Elliot's cry rang out as she dropped backwards and landed hard on her back. Her breaths came in short sharp gasps as Elliot started reining down a shower of bullets. switching from his R-99 to his flatline and back again. Loba gathered herself dragging her body back upright. Her arm dangling from her side and blood ran down her arm and dripped off her fingers. She ignored it. Her hand coming up to steady her gun as she fought alongside her last remaining teammate.  
Finally the room drew silent, Loba sank to her knees, blood and bodies littered the room, some of it her own as her arm dropped back to her side and she heaved in agonizing breaths. Elliot was on her in a second, pressing his hand to her wound and making her whimper in pain.  
"Loba?" Her name a question as she tilted her head up towards him and gave him a weak smile.  
"I'm ok, we're ok." She said raising her good arm and stroking the side of his face as Elliot looked right back at her and offered his own, worried but happy smile.  
"I'll get something to cover this, we need to get you some medical help." Elliot said as Loba climbed shakily to her feet and shook her head.  
"No, patch me up and lets get on with this, I promise I will let you take care of me later, you can play doctor all you want but right now we need to get in there and finish what we started." Loba said running her good arm up Elliot's, squeezing his bicep and firmly holding on until he relented.  
"Doctor A, is that a promise?" He asked with a slight eyebrow wiggle, and Loba knew he was going to be ok. She gave him a rye smile before giving herself her last syringe, and looking around for something to cover her wound. Elliot finally ripped a piece of fabric off a downed soldiers uniform and tied it tightly around her shoulder. That done the pair moved off through the doorway, stepping over the bodies and moving into the brightly lit room beyond.


	17. Chapter 17

chapter 17 Battle grounds pt2

Wraith couldn't see anything, the room was covered in smoke, gas and the sounds of shouting. She had seen Anita go down, heard her cries for help, but she had no choice but to close the door. The Revenant copies were trying to get in, almost relentless in their pursuit, a single mindedness that only comes from being programed.   
"We have to get out there, Anita." Wraith called unable to finish her sentence as she wasn't sure what Anita was. From what she had seen the woman was unlikely to still be alive, but Renne knew she had to try.   
"There is no way we can get back through that door without u all going down." Lifeline said as D.O.C activated and started healing everyone. No one had come out unscathed. Wattson had a deep cut to her forehead, Alexander was cradling a broken arm, and Crypto had a gash on his leg that Wraith thought might even go to the bone. She herself had managed to escape relatively unharmed apart from a wound above her eye which was slowly leaking blood, and slightly blurring her vision.  
"Come get your fill, this isn't over yet." Ajay said as she healed her own wounds, as the scratching and banging on the door grew louder.  
"In a minute, I have to go and get Anita, I will use a portal, but be prepared We might not be the only ones coming back through." Renne said as she gave the others no time to object. she ran into the void crashing through the doorway and coming out the other side right next to her prone friend. Renne had no time to acess how Anita was doing, no time to even look at what was happening at all. She quickly grabbed the woman by her arm and pulled her back through the void.  
Appearing out the other side Renne felt hands grab her quickly, pulling her way from the portal, as Alexander moved forward and tossed his gas bomb through.   
"We do not have much time, I suggest we move from this location as soon as possible." He said before coming over and looking down at Anita. Her body was broken, twisted almost unnaturally so, and her entire back was covered in the deep red hew of blood.  
"Can you help her." Renne shouted as Ajay came sliding over and first placed her hands on Anita's pulse point. There was an eerie silence, even the din of the drones seemed to stop for a moment before Ajay shook her head.  
"I can't find a pulse, hold on." Ajay continued as she pulled D.O.C over and began working on Anita. striping her of the shirt she was in, and getting a better look at the wound. There was a deep puncture to her back, luckily it missed her spine, but rather went in slightly to the left, but it was deep, so deep in fact that Ajay suspected that it had punctured her lung.  
"I got this you have to hold them off as long as you can." Ajay said as the noise from behind the door suddenly reached a crescendo and Renne turned and watched as the door exploded and the drones started to come pouring through.

Loba and Elliot made it to the control room, it was empty, either this particular room was abandoned, or it had simply been closed for the night, either way Loba was grateful. Her shoulder was hurting, in fact her entire body felt like one big bruise. Ignoring it and watching as Elliot pulled an empty desk against the door to the rear of the room, then wedging a chair between it and the handle for good measure he looked at her and gave her a small smile.  
"It won't hold for long, but it might give us enough time if they come for us." He said now moving back across the room, and standing next to Loba as she started tapping away at the keyboard.  
"Ok this looks more promising, this is no emergency computer, this in right on Hammonds mainframe. The only problem is I don't have the access codes, and I'm not sure I can break through the encryption, not quickly anyway." Loba said searching through the files and not seeing any back door to access the mainframe.  
"Damm it!" she shouted hitting the table and making the computer jump a little. the she felt Elliot's hands on her face, forcing her to look at him. Their eyes locked, even in the darkness of the room she could see the light in his eyes, and the utter trust he held for her. He did not waver, he did not blink, he simply looked at her.  
"I know you can do this, you are the smartest, most determined, most beautiful woman I have ever met, and I know you will finish this one way or another." Elliot's fingers caressed the side of her face as he spoke, and Loba couldn't help but lean into his touch. There was something very touching about having a moment like this, even under these circumstances. Maybe, Loba thought to herself as she let him hold her, this was just when she needed to here it.  
"Thank you." She whispered, now pulling away from him and going back to work at the keyboard.

"Whatever your going to do Crypto could you do it now." Wattson shouted as she fought off more drones, and with Alexanders help beat them back almost as far as the door. There were more coming however, and there were all on their last reserves. It was quite obvious now that wherever Loba and Mirage were, they had not managed to stop this, they had either failed, or were already dead.  
"I can try rebooting the system now, I think my virus has had time to work, but I must get back down to my lab to do it." Crypto called over the sound of more gunfire, as Renne shot off the last of her ammo, and downed a few more drones.  
"Do it, go before there is no one left to save." Renne called as she went hand to hand, slicing through the drones with her knife. escaping most but not all of the slashes from their claws.  
Crypto waited no longer, knowing he was far more useful below than he ever would be fighting through the endless drone that now had almost consumed the building. He ran down the staircase and dived onto his computer. He brought up his program and hit the delete button. The screen went dark, the room went dark. Unknown the Crypto the entire arena went dark.

Renne found herself under a drone, it had fallen on her, its power depleting in an instant, and there was silence. Pushing at the body, she managed to wriggle her way from beneath it and pull herself upright.  
"Did he do it, is it over." She called but was met with only silence as the dust finally cleared and she could see Ajay bent over Anita.  
"No" Renne whispered as she picked her way across broken bodies, and her fallen comrades who were holding on to one another, as the darkness all but consumed them. The only light was coming from Wattson's fences, which had their own power sauce and were still active.  
"Ajay?" Renne called her friends name, it was more a question than anything and Ajay turned her face up to Renne and shook her head. There were no words, no need for them, only silent tears than ran down the medics cheeks. Renne could feel the tears start to fall from her own eyes, as she walked forward, looking down as Anita lay on her stomach head turned to the side. her eyes were closed, probably thanks to Ajay, and her face looked peaceful, but Renne knew she had not died in piece. Except, and this was perhaps poetic in its justice, she had died the way she would have wanted, she went down fighting, protecting her team.  
Crypto watched as his screen flashed and a single word appeared in the corner.  
Ready....

Loba thought she had been getting somewhere then the entire system went dark. She could get any response from the computer, and even the emergency lights above the door went out. They were now plunged into complete darkness, and Loba couldn't even see her own hand as she peered into the darkness.  
"Elliot." She whispered into the void, and she almost jumped as a hand bushed against her breast, before finding her hand and gripping hold.  
"Sorry I'm here, are you ok, did you shut it down?" Elliot asked confused, and a little afraid, he had not known darkness like this before, there wasn't even a sliver of light, he couldn't see anything, the only sensation he had was the feeling of Loba's hand holding on to his, as they both seemed to stop breathing for a moment to simply listen. The silence however was almost as consuming as the darkness, and Elliot felt Loba squeeze his hand as she moved around next to him.  
"No I don't think so I hadn't gotten in that deep yet." Loba finally replied as she decided that they were in fact still alone in the room, despite the unnerving darkness. She turned back to the computer, but did not let go of Elliot's hand. It was the only source of comfort in the sensory deprivation they were currently experiencing.   
Loba tapped on the keyboard but got no response, the power seemed to have died completely, there wasn't even the humm of the electronics any more.  
"I don't know what happened, but something did, something big, I think It wiped out the entire system." Loba said then as she felt Elliot move a little closer, and his mouth come almost to her ear.  
"You think they shut us down on purpose, or do you think it was something else." He said realising how close he was, but not wanting to pull away.  
"Could be one of two things as far as I can tell. Either they shut it down because I was getting to close and this was the fastest way to stop me, but somehow it seems unlikely, there would be more efficient ways to do that. The other possibility is that someone else shut them down. Maybe Crypto, he has the know how, I just didn't think he had the access, but who knows, as system wide failier is an easy command to send, it doesn't fix the problem permanently, but it will buy them time if they are in trouble." Loba continued as she felt Elliot's hand wrap around her waist and pull her in closer. It was fairly obvious the man was worried, and probably a little afraid. Loba herself was more than happy with the situation and did not fight as Elliott practically sat her on his lap in the darkness, there wasn't much else she could do right now anyway.   
They couldn't leave, they didn't even know which direction the door was in, she couldn't continue to work as she had no power, sitting in the darkness was all they had left, sitting and waiting for what would happen next.

Crypto virtually punched the air as she tapped on his computer and rebooted the system from his terminal. he knew once he got things up and running again they would find and destroy his virus quickly, but not quick enough to stop him doing some damage to their systems. He was, for a moment tempted to leave the system dark, but he knew they could not end it like that. they would have no way off this arena, no power, no anything. they would be stuck in a perpetual fight with no enemies to kill.   
"You did it" Wattson then said from the doorway, her small voice cutting through the silence as Crypto looked up at her and smiled.  
"Yes for now, but it is not over, be prepared. I am going to try and reprogram the drones, but some of them may not receive the new commands, we may still need to fight." Crypto said as Natalie came over and placed a small kiss on his cheek. Tejoon could not help the blush that rose on his cheeks. As his fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, as he let his heart rate return to normal.  
"I umm well." He stuttered as Wattson looked at him, her big eyes wide in the almost complete darkness, the only light coming from his computer as he looked back at her.  
"You are a good man Tae Joon Park do not forget this." Wattson said before leaving him alone once more.  
It took only a few moments before Crypto could move, but move he did, his fingers furiously tapping at the keyboard, he knew if he did not get the system up and running soon, someone else would, and then it might all have been for nothing.

Loba was starting to go a little mad in the darkness, after they had spoken about who might have caused this, they had slipped in to what felt like a comfortable silence. Elliot was holding her on his lap, his hand rubbing her back as she lent against him, her body on the verge of collapse, probably due to blood loss, but also the pounding it had taken over the last several days. Now however the silence felt awkward and strange. It wasn't just that alone however, Loba was feeling useless, like she had failed, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. Her hand wandered absently across Elliot's arm, up and down his firm muscles in a pattern she was totally unaware of.  
"I'm going to fall asleep if you keep doing that." Elliot said his voice sounding very loud in the silent room.  
"Sorry I was just thinking, maybe we should try and get out, we are useless down here and who knows what is going on at the surface, they might need our help." Loba then said stopping the motion of her fingers and simply laying her hand over his.  
"Ok so how do you think we do that, I can't see a damm thing, probably end up walking my sorry ass in to a wall, or worse into some kind of hole." Elliot said as he felt Loba nod against his chest. Her head falling slack on his shoulder, and Elliot was suddenly worried, this did not feel right. her entire body had gone limp, her hand falling from his and now he panicked.  
"Loba, Loba wake up." He shouted, shaking her slightly, but the woman did not stir, her head fell to the side and Elliot scooped her up and lay her flat on the floor. his fingers reaching out in the darkness and finding her neck. To his eternal happiness he found her pulse, it was steady if a little week. he moved his hands across her body, apologizing as he went for touching places he probably shouldn't whist she was unconscious, but he had no choice. he was looking for any injuries she had not told him about. He found none, so he moved back up to her shoulder. He could feel the damp pad below his fingers, and knew the wound had begun bleeding again. Ripping off his own sleeve he made a pad out of it, pressing the cloth hard against the wound he bound it tightly, this time with her arm up across her chest to keep it as elevated as possible.  
Moving across the floor carefully reaching out with his hands Elliot finally found his backpack. Pulling it forward and opening it, he pulled out his final med kit. he didn't even think twice about giving her the entire syringe as he pumped the medicine into her arm.  
"Please wake up honey." He almost cried into her neck as the woman below him did not stir.

Wraith helped Lifeline move Anita's body into a dark corner, there cold be no lovely grave to rest her in, no funeral, nothing but the grief that remained in their hearts. Wraith knew it was only a vessel anyway, that somehow Anita was still here with them, making sure they got through this. Renne was now more determined than ever to get through this. People needed to know what happened here, about the people who didn't make it, about who they really were, not just killers, robots, soldiers, thieves. But people each and every single one of them.  
"Come on lets clear this mess up before they all come back to life." Wraith said as Ajay gave a visible shudder at the thought, but helped her none the less. Wattson and Alexander joined them, followed by Gibraltar who had been silent ever since she had brought Anita back through the void. the big man was taking this harder than the rest of them. He had been supposed to protect her, he had failed, and now he was a shell of his former self.  
"Come on big guy, she would not want you to be like this, she would want you to fight." Renne said now placing her hand on his arm and giving it a small squeeze. It was the Gibby looked up and straight into her eyes. Wraith almost stepped back, the anger she saw there, the sheer hatred, was something she had never expected to see in the gentle giants eyes.  
"Don't you worry bruddah, I got this." He said pushing past her and virtually throwing drones out the door, creating a wall of bodies. All Renne could do was watch and hope her friend would be ok.

Crypto entered the final code and the done flashed back into life, the sound came back, the light returned, and he gave a small smile.  
"System rebooted."

Elliot was about to give up when he heard a small moan in the darkness. He reached down and pulled Loba up to a sitting position. She moan again, but was no longer a limp body in Elliott's arms, she moved adjusting her position so she was more comfortable.  
"Here drink this, I don't have any food, which you need because you have lost a lot of blood, but water will help." Elliot said holding the canister to her lips, as Loba drank thirstily.   
"Thank you." She said this time bringing her hand up and finding not his cheek but his lips. her fingers brushed against his plump lips for a second before moving to cup his cheek. Elliot was virtually in tears as she touched him.  
"I thought I had lost you, don't do that ever again." He said leaning into her touch, and holding her so tightly he had to back off in case he hurt her again.  
"I'll try not to, I don't tend of making feinting a habit, but I guess the last few days have been an exception." Loba said now trying to sit up a little straighter, in an attempt to get more comfortable on the cold hard floor.  
"It's ok I don't think your some kind of damsel in distress, I've seen the business end of your P2020 remember." She could here the smile in his voice and she smiled back at him, although he could not have possibly know it, here in the dark, but she couldn't help herself anyway.  
"I think maybe I should try and get up now." Loba said her knees bending so she could get her feet under her, but she felt a gentle push on her uninjured shoulder.  
"I think you should stay right here for a few more minutes, just let yourself rest for a moment." Elliot said his voice deadly serious and Loba gave up leaning back down against him, as Elliott's head came and rested on the top of her own.  
"You know if this were a movie, the lights would come back on, everything would be fixed and better, you would kiss me madly and we would fly off into the sunset together." His voice was wistful and Loba did like the image he had created, but she could help the huff that fell from her lips.  
"Well its unlikely, but i can help yo with one part of your fairy tale." Loba said then feeling brave and almost like this might be her last chance. She wrapped her arm around the back of Elliott's neck and pulled him down to her lips. Kissing him like he had described, until she had to break for air. Elliot huffed against the side of her face, his hand holding her ribcage just below her breast as her injured arm prevent him from moving higher.   
"Yep that was almost perfect, except that I can't see you that is." He then said deciding that he could live with it, he lent in to claim her lips again. Then the lights came back on, a mild glow in the pitch black at first, then the computer screen blinked back to life and Loba's face was lit by a deep blue hew.  
"Quick get me up." she cried as Elliott's lips drew back quickly, if a little disappointed, but pulled her up off the floor anyway.  
Loba rushed over to the screen, ignoring the lightheadedness that had taken over for a moment, she shook it off. Forcing her eyes to focus on the screen in front of her.  
"The system has been reset, which means it was Crypto he go in, but he doesn't have full access, we do. Look system control, manual overrides, Legends stats, you name it we've got it." Loba said her excitement now evident as she flew through the files, until she stopped abruptly and sat down hard on the chair.  
"What is it?" Elliot asked then afraid but unable to stop himself.  
"Octane is dead, and Hound and ..," Her voice cracked here and Elliot saw tears begin to run down her face. he knelt down beside her, and looked at the screen for himself. his arms going around her shoulder gently as he read of Anita's fate.  
"Ok now you have to hurt them, destroy the system, bring them down." Elliot said his anger not only over his friend's deaths, but also her distress now taking hold as Loba reached out and began typing again.  
It was s few minutes before Loba finally had the access she needed, her mind focused not thinking about what had happened. Not thinking about Anita, about what could have been, what maybe they could have become, if not lovers like she suspected the woman wanted, but friends. Friends at the very least, but now she only had her memory, and perhaps revenge for herself and Octane, Hound, Pathfinder and Anita. Just as she was about to press the key to execute the file wipe, a voice came over a speaker in the corner of the room.  
"Miss Andrade, Mr Witt, I would like to congratulate you in making it this far into our inner sanctum. it has been marvelous to watch. Now I realise that you have us by the short and curlies here, thanks to Tea Joon, but I need to impart some information on you before you complete your mission, i would like to drop you this little fait accompli. By deleting this system package, and returning the games to their normal operations, you will be deleting the respawn files of all those who have died. oh the rest of you will be spared of course, and free to continue on with your contracts, but we would not be able to bring back those you have lost. However if you leave the game as it stands, we can respawn your fallen teammates, for a final battle." Loba looked at Elliot, then looked at the screen, the blinking light flashing at her a single word taunting her as she knew what hitting it meant. It was certain death for those already fallen, or possible death for everyone in this final battle. She felt Elliott's hand come around her and gave her shoulder a small squeeze.  
"You know what we do Loba, we fight." He said softly, and Loba knew what she had to do.


	18. Chapter 18

chapter 18- The calm before

"Anita's body, it's gone." Ajay cried as Wraith rushed across the room, to see that in fact where Anita's body was once rested, now only an empty space remained.  
"What in the world?" Renne said as she simply looked at the empty space, not knowing what to do, or where to turn. Just as she was about to start searching for Anita's body, in fear that someone had done something with it there was the sound of an approaching ship. If Wraith didn't know any better, she would have sworn that it was a respawn ship.  
"There look!" Wattson then cried from out on the roof, and it quickly brought everyone running. They all watched as first Pathfinder, then Octane followed by Bloodhound and finally Bangalore dropped to the ground. For a moment they seemed disorientated, then Anita seemed to gather herself and started running for the dome, bringing the others with her.  
Wraith almost had to rub her eyes in disbelief, but she held off, watching as her friends all made it to the dome, joining them and simply for a moment just looking at each other.  
Then it seemed as all hell broke loose, everyone talking at once, hugging, back slapping and Wraith just stood and smiled, having no idea how this happened, and not really caring at this moment either.   
"You do this?" Anita finally said pulling herself out of Gibraltar's arms and looking at Crypto who was attempting to contain Octane from touching all of his computer systems.  
"No, I was no wear near bring you all back, in fact I hadn't even considered it. Given the situation." Crypto replied as Anita looked around and noticed all the bodies, piled so high they almost touched the celling.   
"But you did this, you stopped them?" Anita then asked as Crypto simply shrugged his shoulders.  
"Maybe, but something else is going on, the system rebooted far to quickly, someone else got in to it, and I think that is why you are all back. This is probably not over yet." Crypto continued as Anita turned and looked at Wraith who had been silent in the corner, a smiled plastered on her face that still had not fallen.  
"Loba?" Anita questioned, and Wraith nodded slowly, not knowing if the final members of their team were in fact still alive, but also responsible for this miracle.   
"Can you see if you can find them, they won't know where we are." Anita said turning back to Crypto who was already connected with hack. the green light illuminating his face as he scanned the canyon below.  
"I can't see them, they must still be off the grid." Crypto said as he then stopped, looking down and seeing a flash on his screen. It was a body, it seemed to be berried under dirt and rubble, but it was moving.  
"Hold on I have something." Crypto said as the room seemed to stop breathing simultaneously.  
Crypto watched as a metal clawed hand made it's way to the surface, followed by what looked like a broken, but functioning body.  
"Why can't I just die." A low growl came and Crypto snapped away from hack as it blinked in front of the simulacrum.  
"It's Revenant, he is down by the labs, seems to be ok, well mostly." Crypto said as he went back to hack and watched ad Revenant dusted himself off, and put joints back where they were supposed to be. Then the simulacrum turned his orange eyes on hack and giving what could only be interpreted as a frown.  
"I'm coming skin suit, just wait a moment, got some company." Crypto watched as a hand emerged from the rubble, followed by a mop of dark hair and a gold and black jump suit.  
"He has Elliott with him, he seems ok." Crypto informed the group and there was an intake of breath, Anita he thinks, but it could have been Natalie as she was standing so close.  
"What about Loba, is there any sign of her?" That was Anita and her voice was only inches from Crypto's face as she tried to peer at his screen.  
"Not yet, looks like just the two of them, no wait hold on." He said, as he watched a very familiar arch of light shoot out of the hole, and land in the dust between Elliott and Revenant. Then Loba was standing there, hair falling out of her braids, her arm in a sling, but alive and as well as one could look after being berried alive.  
"She's there, we are all here." Crypto said then, feeling a well of emotions rise inside of him as he looked up from hack to see a small tear in Anita's eye. The solider quickly wiped it away, covering the action with a cough as she turned to the room.  
"Revenant knows where we are, he will bring them here, all we need to know now is what the hell is going on.  
Elliot had half dragged, half carried Loba back up the staircase. She was so pale it was frightening. He knew he had to get her to Ajay as soon as possible, as he could now see the blood covering the second pad he had placed over her wound.  
"Put me down I can walk." Loba huffed as Elliott scooped her up again as Loba tripped over the stairs and almost fell on her face, mostly due to having only one arm to support herself, but also she was obviously exhausted, both physically and mentally. Elliott didn't know if he could have done it. To decide who lived and who die in the blink of an eye like that. He also knew however that she had made the right decision.  
When they finally reached the locked doorway they found it blown to bits, and Elliot placed Loba back on her feet as they looked around at the carnage that surrounded them. It looked like an earthquake had taken place. There also appeared to be no way up to the surface, the exit berried under a tone of rubble. Then the sound of rocks being thrown caught his attention.  
"Revenant?" Elliott questioned as he finally spotted the simulacrum trying to dig his way out. he looked battered and torn, but he seemed to be functioning well enough.  
"Might have known you would still be with us." Loba said but the bite was gone from her voice, replaced with a tired resignation, and even a little gratefulness.  
"Where else would I be girllie." Revenant replied knowing it would push her buttons, and she would need that anger to help get them out of here.  
"I told you not to call me that, not unless you want a few more holes put into that body of yours." Loba snapped, and Elliott almost smiled, at least she was starting to sound like herself again. Even if it was at Revenants expense.  
"Whatever, now you gonna help me with this or just sit there." Revenant said as he began pulling rocks away from the staircase once more.  
It took them a while and some considerable effort but finally they made a hole big enough that they could crawl through. Elliot had suggested that Loba teleported through, and he was met with no argument. This worried him, but he chose to say nothing.  
Once they were on the surface, and Elliott saw hack looking at them, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.  
"They have found us, look Loba." He said as she turned her amber eyes up to the drone, and gave a small wave with her good arm, before turning to Revenant and asking him if he knew where everyone was.  
"I'll get you there, but we need to do it quickly I have a feeling you have some explain to do." he said and Loba was almost shocked at how well the simulacrum could read her. His words about how he was a part of her earlier came back to haunt her in that moment, and she shook her head to ward them away.  
"What do you mean quickly?" she said before the robot was coming towards her and wrapping a hand around her waist, scooping her up under one arm, and holding on tightly she squirmed in protest but it had no effect on the simulacrum.  
"Don't fight me girllie, we need to take the jump towers, you can't do it properly with your arm, and lover boy over there would never carry you that far, so pack it up and enjoy the ride." Revenant said, and if Loba didn't know any better she could have swore he was enjoying this.

When they touched down at the dome, Revenant placed Loba gently on her feet, and she turned to him her eyes slightly narrowed against the sun, but the acerbic remark that was about to slip off her tongue fell short.  
"And they say chivalry is dead." She finally said as Revenant made his way towards the dome, his shoulders slightly hunched and his gate had a slight limp to it. Loba briefly wondered if he was in pain, but she did not linger on this new sympathetic feeling for the simulacrum. She turned to look at Elliott who was giving her a small smile and a knowing look.  
"It will all be ok, just tell them what happened, you did the right thing." He said and she offered him a weak smile back. Loba knew there was no decision to make she could not let any of them just simply be dead. They all deserved a chance, and this was it, she just hoped they all agreed with her.  
"Come on we need to get Ajay to take a look at that shoulder, and something to eat." Elliott said as Loba's stomach chose that moment to make itself heard. She blushed slightly, but made her way up the hill.

They were all waiting for them, the entire roster of Legends. From Pathfinders happy clapping hands, to Anita's smile hidden behind a frown, and Loba knew for that moment she would have given anything.  
"Bruddah, good to see you." Gibby said wrapping Elliot up in a bare hug and lifting him off the floor.  
"Hey less squeeze there big guy can't breath." Elliott said as Wattson came over and wrapped her arm around Loba's shoulder.  
"So glad you are ok mon amie, did you bring them back to us." Wattson asked as Loba looked down at her and gave a small nod.  
"Then we all thank you Chica, but you don't look so good, Che wanna come take a look at this." Octane said placing a hand on Loba's back and moving her through the throng of people towards the medic who was pulling on her gloves.  
"Sure honey, wanna tell me what happened here?" Ajay said as she carefully removed the sling, and Loba's arm fell slightly before Loba lowered it carefully to her side.  
"Got shot." She said simply feeling a pair of brown eyes on her, they seemed to be boring right into her back as Lifeline gently removed her jacket and took a good look at the wound.  
"Aint nothing but a scratch will have this cleared up in no time." Ajay said as she sat Loba down on a near by box and started healing her.  
"So what happened Witt, I mean I was dead, not just back in the respawn ship, dead. Now we are here, and she said it was her. What happened?" Anita said no rounding on Elliott who took a deep breath, and decided that he could do this, he could do this for Loba, even if it meant the wrath of Anita coming down on his head.  
"Well you see we thought we had failed, we were left sitting in the complete dark, then when everything came back on we realised that we had access to everything. Something to do with you old man?" Elliott said looking at Crypto and giving him a grin.  
"Might have been, I sent in a virus, it reset the systems, and shut down the Revenant drones. It was as far as I got before I was locked out. You I presume." Crypto replied with a smile of his own as the two men reaffirmed their friendship even across an entire room.  
"Yeah Loba broke into the system, she managed to hack right through their firewalls, It made them take notice." Elliott continued as then he saw Loba push past Octane and stand in the center of the group. her arm was no longer in a sling and the colour had returned to her cheeks. She was looking at them one by one, and Elliot knew she wanted to tell them.  
"They gave me a choice, they knew I could shut them down, maybe not for good, but for a long time, and time means money." Loba said as all eyes now fell on her, and the weight of those eyes had Loba almost rocking back on her heels.  
"What was this choice princess, what deal did you make with the devil?" Anita said her voice was cold almost accusatory in its tone and Loba tried not to outwardly wince.  
"They told me I could reset the system bring everything back to normal, that we could go on with our contracts and the Apex games would go on as normal, but the dead would stay dead. Or I could let them have control back, they would respawn everyone for a final battle, one last chance to win. I chose to fight. I chose for all of us." Loba said her eyes finally falling to the floor. Elliott wanted to go to her, to wrap her in the safety of his arms, but something was telling him that she wouldn't appreciate that, not here in font of an audience.  
"You chose to bring us back, possibly for us all to die, instead of the rest of you living for certain." Anita said walking over to Loba now and forcing the Latino to look her in the eyes. Loba's amber eyes slowly drew up to Anita's brown ones. She saw more than respect there, something that ran far deeper and Loba held the eye contact.  
"Yes Someone told me once, we fight that's what we do." Loba replied giving Elliott a small glance over Anita's shoulder as the solider placed her hand on Loba's upper arm.  
"Your crazy you know that, but I guess thank you." Anita said as Loba gave her a small smile, the weight of her decision now shared she suddenly felt so much lighter, before she felt arms wrap around her middle and her feet leave the floor.  
"Thank you Bruddah." Gibby said pressing Loba against his vast chest, until Loba gave in and hugged him back.  
"You're very welcome." Loba said as Gibby placed her back on her feet and Loba tried not to blush as everyone continued to stare at her.  
"So what's this final battle, what can we expect?" Anita then asked as Loba turned to her and shook her head.  
"They didn't tell me, but I guess we can expect anything, and we should get ready for the worst they have to throw at us." Loba replied before Crypto stepped forward.  
"I think we need to change location, this place is not defendable anymore." He said as Loba looked around at the piles of bodies, and the busted out windows and doors.  
"I agree, but where do you suggest?" Loba said now looking around at the group as they all looked at one another, no one having anything at this moment.  
"I suggest watch tower south, it's high, its defendable, and has an inside myself and Miss Paquette can lock down." Caustic finally suggested, and as no one had a better idea, they all started to gather their things and head out.  
"Hey we should swing by the repulsor, some of us need to loot up." Octane suggested as Anita had nothing to collect either she quickly agreed.

Making their way around the repulsor they gathered all the loot they could find. Loba's black market was charged and everyone managed to grab something they were missing, but it was shield cells and med kits they were really al short on. In the end Lifeline had two med kits and five syringes to work with. Each Legend taking only one med kit each except Loba and Elliott who had to take extra ammo after their fight in the labs.  
Revenant eyed Loba from his perch on the top of the repulsor wall. He could see her desperately searching for things, knowing that time was short. He climbed down landing next to Crypto as he made his way through the gap in the wall and towards watch tower south.  
Revenant waited until Loba came through last except for Elliott who was behind her bringing up the rear.   
"Here take this." He said handing Loba his one remaining syringe. Loba looked at it, she didn't know what to say, she couldn't really say anything not knowing what she knew, not how he had kissed her back when they were back in the labs. She looked up at him and gave him a small nod, her fingers lightly brushing his claws as she took the syringe from him.  
"Thank you." She muttered and Revenant felt something stir in his stomach, it was an odd feeling, the fact that he had any feeling at all was amazing to him, the fact that it was pleasure was even harder for the murder bot to fathom.  
He did not reply in words, he simply nodded at her and walked away, leaving Loba to wonder just what had transpired between them.  
"You ok?" Elliott asked walking up behind her and placing a soft hand against the small of her back.  
"I think I will be." Loba said giving him a small smile in return, before shouldering her pack and moving off after the others.  
"Is it me, or is it damm hot today." Loba said casually as Elliot followed her to the watch tower.

Standing on top of the watch tower Anita wiped the sweat from her brow and surveyed the landscape below her. It was quiet too quiet, and she didn't like it, also it seemed to be heating up again, just like before. As yet the heat was not so unbearable, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't stay that way for long. Anita turned to see Loba and Elliott finally make their way into the watch tower, she knew their relationship had shifted to something else, she could see it in the way they looked at one another, and Anita knew she should be happy for them. Yet there was still a small part of her that would prefer something else. Shaking her head and knowing that for right now at least she had a job to do. Standing up and moving towards the ladder and climbing down and seeing the others sprawled around the floor trying to evade the heat inside the room.  
"I think we might have a problem." Wraith said standing up and stripping down to her vest as the rest of the legends already seemed to have done.  
"You think." Anita asked with a rye smile before narrowing her eyes and looking out of the window.   
"I guess we have to make our way to the river before we cook in here, I have a feeling they are trying to get us off the high ground and down into the canyon, much easier to pick off down there." Anita said sweat now rolling off her as the heat continued to rise. at least there had been a breeze up on the roof.  
"That would be my guess, but we don't have a choice, except Path and Revenant that is they seem unaffected by the heat." Renne continued as Anita glanced at the two robots who were just stood guard at the doorway.  
"So we go for the river, at least for now, unless something else comes up." Anita said as Crypto came over to them.  
"I have scanned the area, everything is clear, and we can't stay here." He said almost as if he had read their minds, or was listening in, Anita couldn't be sure and she simply nodded at him.  
"We figured as much, we need to head back to the river, but it will be a terrible position to defend from." She continued as slowly the rest of the Legends made their way towards them, some trying to catch a breeze form the door, and others trying to here the conversation.  
"I guess we can cross that bridge when we come to it, the fact is we can't stay here." Renne said then picking up her own things and moving towards the door.  
"Come on, we need to move, I have no desire to be cooked." Wraith said no no one in particular, but everyone seemed to get the message and head outside, and down the hill to the river.

Loba floated on her back, her face out of the water, her shoulders on fire where they had started to burn from the sheer force of the sun. It was cooler in the water, but it was far too shallow for her liking. It was still too damm hot, hotter she thought than last time, and if it was Hammons goal to just boil them to death, then none of them stood a chance. Even Pathfinder and Revenant had to have a certain threshold before even their systems would be effected.  
"God I'm so hot, I feel like just stripping everything off." Loba said as Elliott floated over just in his pants now, his shirt thrown into his pack, and Loba was very jealous.  
"I have zero objection to that." Elliott said wiggling his eyebrows at her, as Loba sat up and gave him a small frown.  
"I'm sure you wouldn't." She retorted as Anita and Crypto came paddling over, before quickly crouching down and immersing themselves in the cool river once more. Loba noticed that Crypto was also topless, his pale skin turning red in the sunlight.  
"What's happening?" Anita asked as she squatted next to Loba and idly toyed with her flatline.  
"Loba wants to get naked, she's too hot." Elliot said casually, as Crypto couldn't help the slight cough that erupted from him, as he didn't know where to look. Loba gave him a small knowing look before frowning at Elliott.  
"Thanks beautiful, but it's alright for you guys, you can just strip off, We have to suffer, well Anita seems to be doing ok." Loba said eyeing Anita's see through white tank top and the woman actually started to look embarrassed, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Loba a weary look.  
"Yeah well, you got any better idea's corset, considering you need to cool off." Anita replied as Loba squinted at her in the bright sunshine. Her shoulders already starting to burn even having been only in the direct light for less than five minutes.  
"Actually I do, we should make our way to the waterfall at the slums. All we have to do is follow the river, and we will be there, no getting too hot necessary. Its shady there and we can really cool down." Loba continued as Renne came towards them now, leaving the other group and squatting down next to Crypto.  
"Hey did I hear we are making a run for the waterfall." She said as Loba looked at her and saw she was also wearing a tank top, this one was black however and she wasn't showing anything she shouldn't be.  
"Yeah princess here actually came up with a good idea." Anita said which earnt her a slap on the arm from Loba.  
"Ouch, just because you decided to wear leather don't take it out on the rest of us." Anita said with a small chuckle as Loba pulled on her corset trying to let out some of the heat from her skin.  
"Fine, well seeing as we have all had a good laugh should we maybe go, I have a feeling this is not the end of what is to come." Loba said then standing up and letting the water drip from her body. The urge to shake out her hair was high, but she knew keeping it away from her face would be cooler, even if it was starting to itch something fierce.   
"You could borrow my shirt if you wanted." Crypto then said stepping over to her and speaking quietly so no one else would here. Not that they were listening, they were too busy telling the others of the new plan.  
"Thanks beautiful, but I don't think it would be any cooler than what I am wearing, plus." She lent forward slightly and got close to Crypto's ear. her warm breath fell on his neck and Crypto felt a cold shiver run through him.  
"I might not be wearing any underwear." Loba said pulling back from him with a small wink. It was all Crypto could do not to then stare at her chest. A battle he lost once Loba was stood fully upright and was now looking towards the others to see if they were ready to move out.  
Crypto was too slow however to remove his gaze and as Loba turned her head he was raising his eyes to meet hers, but the blush on his face was evident in spite of the mild sunburn on his cheeks.  
"It's ok beautiful I understand, just try and be an bit more discrete next time, you have eyes on you." Loba said smiling at him in a way that said she had no objection to him eyeballing her, but someone else might. Crypto looked over at the group to see Wattson looking at him with mild curiosity, but there was also something else there, and right now he didn't want to examine that any closer. It seemed somehow wrong after just looking at Loba and pondering her apparent nakedness under the corset.  
"I'll try to keep under the radar." He replied picking up his own pack as the group now seemed like they were moving out. There was going to be little time for these moments, and Crypto basked in it for a moment longer, watching the woman walk away and tuck her staff under her arm as she went.

"Everything ok?" Elliott asked as Loba caught up with him, leaving Crypto to mull over what she had said.   
"Yeah its all fine, but I tell you now I am worried, did I make the right decision here, if this heat carries on, and we have to fight, none of us will make it out alive." Loba half whispered as Elliott placed his hand on her lower back. The gesture was becoming more and more familiar and Loba liked it. Somehow she felt safer with Elliott's hand on her, even if she would never admit it.  
"I know what you mean, but for right now we just have to play the cards we have been dealt, also. I have this for you." Elliot said now pulling his pack from his shoulder and producing a black shirt. It was one of his work shirts he had stuffed in his bag. He didn't even know he had done it until he had been digging around for the last remaining crackers Gibby had given him.  
"Ok well thanks, I guess I could do something with this." Loba said eyeing the shirt and deciding that she could tie the tails together and knot them like a bra.  
"You mind standing in front of me for a moment." Loba said now a blush rising on her cheeks as she moved into the shade of a near by building.  
"Sure umm, you go ahead I'll keep watch." Elliot said somewhat nervously, not knowing weather to stop the others or let them continue to move away from them as Loba changed.  
"You know." Loba started as Elliott could here the shift of Loba's clothes as she started to get changed. Elliott tried to ignore the urge to turn his head. It was harder than he would have ever thought as Loba's hand fell on his shoulder, and Elliott nearly jumped into the air.  
"Calm down hansom, I need your help, i think I got a strap twisted." Loba said as Elliot turned and saw Loba's back to him, her corset half undone, but an obvious knot preventing her from removing it.  
"Oh yeah I see you have a knot. You want me to undo it?" He asked his voice stuttering over his final word as Loba nodded at him over her shoulder.  
"Please beautiful." Loba said her voice low sultry and obviously on purpose to make Elliott sweat ever harder than he was already doing.   
"Sure I can do that." He said reaching out and taking hold of the straps to Loba's corset pulling at the knot until it was loose and the corset fell away all at once. Elliott didn't know where to put his eyes. Even though Loba was turned away from him and all he could se was her bare back, it still sent small tendrils of arousal down his spine.  
"Thanks hansom." Loba said not bothering to ask him to turn back around as she slid his shirt on. It was big in the shoulders, long in the body, but as she wrapped it up and tide it tight below her bust Elliot could see that she wasn't wearing any underwear.  
"Damm it." fell from his lips as Loba turned to him and gave him a small knowing smile.  
"Our secret yes." She said virtually whispering in his ear, as her now bare breast only contained in his own shirt pushed against Elliott's naked chest. Elliott couldn't help the hand that now made it's way round her bare waist. Her skin was so soft her breath so warm against his neck, and it was so damm hot.  
"You know as much as I want to continue this, I think we might be getting interrupted." Loba said her hand curing around Elliott's waist before pushing him away from her slightly.  
"Hey you guys coming or what?" Anita's voice called out, she sounded somewhat pissed and Loba quickly stepped out from the shadows.  
"Sorry beautiful had a slight change of wardrobe." Loba said as Anita eyeballed her, and then turned away.  
"Well get a move on, before I start sprouting grey hairs." Anita said with a smile in her voice as she turned and started to wade back up stream.  
"See what did I tell you, now how about we catch up with them, after all we can't do this alone." Loba said as Elliott nodded, placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her forwards. Loba let him lead her, for now at least It was a small comfort she could afford.

Upon reaching the waterfall which seemed to take hours, due to all the stops for rest and cooling down in the river, the group set up camp on the bank, making sure their gear was out of the reach of the water, but they could sit under the spray as much as they wanted.  
"Shouldn't the sun have set by now?" Lifleline asked as Renne sat next to her unconcerned with the damp ground below her as she was finally cool for the first time that day.  
"I don't think it will be setting tonight." Renne said looking out at the still bright sunlight, it hovered over them like a vengeful god. Raining down it's heat without let up without remorse.  
"You ever think that fate has a bigger part to play in our lives than we ever believed. That no matter the path we chose, this was exactly where we were all going to end up. That you and Octane would see each other again, that Wattson was designed to end up in the games she helped build, that Caustic would have his own living laboratory. That Crypto would have the means to go after the syndicate, and that Loba would find her parents killer, only to save him. I do, I think this is exactly what life had planned for us, and I know we are all destine for more, that this is not the end of our journey." Renne said not looking at her friend but at the sun, unblinking as the sound of the announcer came over the arena speakers.

"Commencing final round."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell this story will be coming to its conclusion shortly. It is both with sadness and glee that I will probably be done in a chapter, perhaps two, but I cannot drag this story out beyond its natural conclusion, however much I would want to. I would like to take this moment to thank all those who have left kudos, and especially those who have left comments. I can only hope I do not disappoint you. Also and I promised myself I would not start a new story until this one was finished, but I might have to bang out the prolog in the next day or so, as If I don't start writing it down I might forget it. Thank you for reading. XxX


	19. Chapter 19

chapter 19  
The tension in their makeshift camp grew exponentially, Wraith could almost feel the heart rates of everyone go up almost as soon as the announcer had finished talking. She turned and saw everyone standing up now, even as the heat made the sweat roll down her back, she knew they would have no choice but to fight. Renee knew that this heat could kill them with out a single shot being fired, she suspected that Hammond wanted this over quickly. They had not counted on them being able to foil their original plans, and now, perhaps their audience was getting bored. That they were used to seeing quick bloody battles, and so far they had been few and far between.  
"Ammo up people." Anita then said her voice breaking the silence and finally, and all at once they all moved. Gathering their guns and packs moving to form a kind of line just in front of the waterfall.  
"What's coming Crypto?" Anita then asked as the hacker got hack up in the air and surveyed the area.   
"I cannot see anything, hold on." Crypto then said, and Loba felt all her muscles tense up, there was something in the tone of his voice that had Loba more on edge than she already was.

"What is it?" Anita snapped at him, and Crypto quickly logged off his drone and raised his eyes too meet the soldiers.  
"Flyer." He said then as the sun suddenly was blotted out and they were all bathed in shadows. Bloodhound growled, their fists clenched into tight balls as the giant flyer, followed by many other smaller ones.  
"I do not understand I had slayed that beast." Hound said finally as the beast was now almost within firing range.  
"This is Respawn Bruddah, everything can come back." Gibby said as he patted the hunter on the shoulder, and Hound just nodded their body remaining in a attack position. Loba listened to the exchange and suddenly realised something. She felt for a moment dizzy, her hand even reached out for something to grasp hold of as her vision swam. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and her eyes quickly focused on Elliott's worried face.  
"Are you ok?" He asked and Loba shook her head. She was hot, she was hungry, thirsty and she ached on places, she didn't even know she had places. But the most worrying thing was what had just occurred to her.

"No, I don't think I am handsome, not now, not at all." She said and Elliott didn't seem to know what to do other than rub his hands up and down her arms slowly, checking her face then the sky behind them as what looked like death in carnet.  
"Talk to me, what is wrong, what can I do?" Elliott then said, he wasn't just worried for her general well being, but he also knew they would need her to fight.  
"I need to tell everyone something." Loba then said loudly, shaking herself out of whatever stupor she had drifted into, and pulling away from Elliott. On the one hand he was glad she was ok now, or at least better than she was, but on the other he missed touching her, and being the one to help her. It was a purely male thing, and was stupid he knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but he just couldn't help it.  
"What is it princess, and make it quick we got a small problem coming our way." Anita asked, she hadn't meant to sound so abrupt, but the situation did call for some haste.  
"I think when Hammond respawned all of you, they respawned everything, so every prowler, flyer, every specter we left for dead, every Revenant clone, will all now come back, and they will be all coming for us." Loba finished nd everyone turned from her to first look up, then around. This was now not looking like such a good position, with only a wall to their backs they had no where to retreat.  
"Well here's hoping they don't all come for us at once, I suggest we deal with the problem at hand, we can think about the rest later." Anita said, knowing that it would be unlikely that they would face each enemy one after the other, but in fact they were all coming for them. for right now however as the flyers were almost upon them it didn't matter, what mattered was that they lived, that the fought and won.  
"Fire!" Anita yelled as a hail of gunfire flew into the air, and an ear piecing sound came form the flyers gaping beak.

Loba ducked behind a rock as another fire ball landed right where she had been standing. They had been pinned into this one small corner of kings canyon, and she knew of a ground assault came now they were all dead.  
"We need to take this son of a bitch down." Loba said as Elliott slid in beside her and reloaded his gun.  
"Any suggestions?" he asked a smile on his face but it did not reach his eyes.  
"Only one, but I don't think your going to like it." Loba said pulling off her bracelet and waving it at him. Elliott's face grew dark and his eyes narrowed. His head already shaking from side to side.  
"You can't, you'll die." He said then and Loba saw the start of tears welling up behind his eyes.   
"Not necessarily, plus we are only scratching the surface doing what we are doing, we need to try something else." She said as another fireball crashed down and Revenant crashed down beside them, his arm on fire, which he quickly stubbed out on the ground.   
"Damm flying rat, gonna shut you up." He said throwing his silence at the beast and momentarily building it. It turned from them now circling wildly unable to see, and Loba knew that now was her chance. She pulled her arm back and aimed her bangle at the flyers back, but before she could throw it, she felt her arm snatched and her bangle taken.   
She turned to look at who had grabbed her, fully expecting it to be Elliott, but the cold metallic feeling around her wrist was unmistakable, even though the grip was far more gentle than the person delivering it.  
"Oh no girrlie this ones mine, you don't get to die before I do."   
"Get your claws off me." She hissed, not needing his opinion right now, or ever come to think of it.  
"Ha I could crush you with one hand if I wanted to, be grateful I am actually trying to save you, you and pretty boy here. I don't think he would be best pleased if you die." Revenant said then letting go of her but, keeping the bangle incase in his metal claw. Loba flicked her gaze towards Elliott who was looking at her, his eyes virtually begging her to listen to the simulacrum, even if she did despise him.   
"Now how does this thing work." He said launching it through a window in the cabin behind him. Loba then disappeared and Revenant hissed.  
"Shame could have been fun, oh well better do this the old fashioned way." He said getting to his feet, and having to duck a wayward bullet. He scowled at Octane who ran past him and hit a jump padd taking out a small flyer mid air.

"Why did you stop her." Elliott said as Revenant line up his silence once more before making his attack.  
"Same reason you tried I guess, now out of my way skin suit." Revenant stated before launching his silence at the beast, it knocked it sideways, letting Revenant jump on to Octane's jump padd and launch himself onto the beast back. Elliott could only watch as Revenant struggled with the beast until they flew out of view. He was still pondering over what he had said as Loba rejoined him, having ran back from the cabin where Revenant had teleported her.   
"Come on lets help the others, before these things set the waterfall on fire." Loba said then, obviously not interested in talking right now, and she was probably right, now was not the time to discuss Revenants obvious desire or infatuation for her. Elliott wasn't sure which.  
As the giant flyer flew off trying to deal with its unwanted passenger the rest of the flyers seemed to grow more disorganized, flying into one another and their aim got worse. They were easier to pick off, until there were only a few left drifting around the slums.  
"Come on we need to get to higher ground, I have a feeling this is far from done." Anita called as she got Pathfinder to put a zip line up to the top of the mountain. One by one they took the cable up to the top, and noticed the temperature difference immediately. Down in the canyon, under the waterfall they had been warm but not over heated, up here in the direct line of the sun, they all started to sweat pretty quickly.  
"We can stay here, we will not survive this heat for long." Caustic said as he tried to hide in the shade of one of the trees lining the top of the mountain.  
"The doctor is right we must relocate." Wattson said but it was too late the unmistakable sound of claws and deep harsh breathing came pouring from the pit to their right.   
"Oh dear some new enemies have come to kill us." Pathfinder said his gun raised as hundreds of Prowlers came at the mountain, claws scrabbling against rock, and teeth snapping at one another as they climbed over themselves to get to the legends at the top.  
"I am bloothounder." Hound cried as they ran to the edge and started firing at anything that moved. Octane joined him moving almost as one as they cut through the prowlers scaling the rocks below. It was then Loba realised they were coming up behind her. She turned and started firing at the snarling maw, that snapped razor sharp teeth in her direction.  
"They are surrounding us." She called as the prowler fell dead at her feet, but was soon replaced with another. Loba could do nothing but keep shooting them down, until she ran out of ammo.  
"Damm it." She cried as Gibby rushed up to her his gun at his side, and his shield at the ready. Loba got the hint and quickly pulled out her staff and deployed it. Gibby shield went up protecting them as they all took it in turns to restock their supplies. The moments it took to loot the area however gave the prowlers the upper hand, as they couldn't cover all the sides with people having to loot up. Now they were pouring over the lip of the mountain. Claws began slashing at them, jaws inches away from ending them before someone would take down the nearest, only for it to be replaced with another.  
"I have my air strike ready!" Gibby called as Anita turned not missing a beat and taking down a prowler that landed right in front of her.  
"Then use it!" she yelled, but before Gibby could do anything a huge ball of fire consumed the mountain. It didn't however land on any of the legends, and as Loba looked up she saw a sight, something of which she never thought she would see, or ever see again. revenant was riding the huge flyer, his metal hand rammed into the creatures skull. he seemed to be steering it. Somehow he had control of the creature, and right now he was incinerating the prowlers.  
"Holly hell." Anita shouted as she watched Revenant take another swoop at the prowlers and take out so many that finally the top of the mountain was clear of the beasts. Anita watched as the flyer stuttered in the air, its wings collapsing inwards for a moment plunging it towards the ground at startling speed. For a second she felt almost sorrow for the acerbic robot, but it didn't last as the flyer opened it's wings and half landed half crashed into the side of the mountain. Revenant climbed off, letting the creature fall to the ground, as he climbed up to the rest of his team.

He was faced with many a pair of questioning eyes, but he did not have the patients for their questions, it happened they would have to deal with it, plus there was still prowlers coming. Not as many as before but they were not out of danger yet. For a moment he locked eyes with Loba who did not scowl at him, but instead gave him a curt nod before turning to shoot at a few stay prowlers who were topping the edge of the mountain again. It was thanks enough for him as he joined in with the fighting.  
Once it was over, at least for now Loba collapsed against a tree. Sweat was pouring down her body, her head was spinning and her mouth felt dryer than the sand of kings canyon. Elliott flopped down beside her, his bare chest burnt from the sun, and his nose red and peeling already. She didn't dare wonder about what she looked like right now. the tails of her shirt were undone, they fell down at her sides, wet from perspiration where they had been tied under her chest. she couldn't bring herself to retie them right now, the breeze against her sweaty skin was too nice.

"Think I'm going to turn into a sweaty puddle." Elliott said as Renee too squatted down in the shade with them.  
"This heat is going to kill us long before anything else gets too us." She said her face a red sweaty mess, but before Loba could reply there was a strained shout and the three of them looked over to see Gibby collapsed on the floor. Lifeline was there immediately quickly beckoning Wraith over, and asking for a portal back to the waterfall.  
"We need to cool him down now before he literally cooks from the inside out." She said and Renee didn't even question the medic. She set the portal and everyone helped to get Gibby through. They must have been there only a second before the sniper fire started.

"Oh no we got bad guys over there." Octane said pointing towards the top of the slums. Loba turned her gaze towards the sun, but could see nothing in it's blinding brilliance. Then she was hit, her body flying backwards until she collided with the soft wet ground below the waterfall. her shirt flew up over her head blinding her as another shot stuck only inches from her face. Then a strong pair of arms grabbed her, pulling her clear of the waterfall, and dragging her shirt almost off before stopping.  
"Hey princess, looked like you needed a hand there." Anita said as Loba scrambled to cover herself as Anita's face came into view. The woman was smiling, her gaze mostly on Loba's face, but just before Loba pulled her shirt back into place, the soldiers eyes flicked down to her chest.

"Thank you sergeant." Loba said feeling more embarrassed than anything as she sat up and tied the shirt tightly around her chest and pulled out her phoenix kit, her last one, probably the only one, but she was almost gone, and one more sniper shot and she was a dead woman.  
"Don't worry about it girl, this squad needs you." Anita replied before getting herself off the floor, and turning to try and find the sniper in her own scope.  
Loba thought that was different, before getting herself up and seeing the rest of her team all crouched behind rocks, and taking shelter behind the waterfall. They were pinned down again and this time moving would be more dangerous than attempting to defend. Not only because of the threat of snipers, but also the heat. Gibby had already gone down, it wouldn't be long before it took the rest of them too. They had only been lucky it had not happened during the battle.  
Loba moved up behind a large rock with Crypto and Mirage, both of which were looking pretty red in the face, and Loba wasn't sure it was just because of the sun.  
"We didn't see anything." Elliott said quickly, as Loba looked at him, if she hadn't been in such a bad mood she probably would have come up with a witty retort but as it was she simply folded her arms. Knowing that they had both probably seen everything, or Elliott wouldn't have felt the need to mention it at all. As it was she was dirty, smelly and had her chest exposed to the world, and to top it all off, she had been caught off guard. Loba Andrade was never caught off guard, and it was this fact that had her so pissed off.   
When Loba had been sniped right off the ledge she had been standing on both Elliott and Tea Joon had gotten an eye full before Elliott started to get up to help her. The Anita had caught his arm, with a single look telling him it probably wasn't a good idea, and he had stopped in his tracks. Letting the solider drag her out of harms way. Elliott had felt mixed emotions, on one hand he had been worried for her, afraid that she was badly hurt, on the other he couldn't stop himself staring as Loba adjusted her clothes. He found he wasn't alone when he turned to look at Crypto and the man coughed and turned away.

"We should hold here until I can locate the shooters." He had said, it was only a few moments later when Loba slid in behind them, a look of thunder on her face as she folded her arms and staring at a spot somewhere above Elliott's head.  
"Never mind that, we need to get these son's of bitches before they bring the next apocalypses down on our heads. Opening shop." She called before slamming her staff down, now ditching the wingman for a long bow, she already had the skull piercer, and now she found a scope. Cocking the gun, Loba gave Elliott a rye smile before climbing the rock and laying flat down upon it. Scanning the horizon she spotted a small figure on the top of one of the buildings. Her finger tensed over the trigger, as the figure moved slightly left to get what was probably a better shot on herself, but they were too late. Loba fired the sound ringing out even over the noise of the waterfall.  
"Enemy down." She called as she line up another shot, at a different sniper to her right. This one's head was the only thing visible, but Loba didn't care, she pulled the trigger, too high slight adjustment and wham.

"Another one down." She said as all eyes turned to her as she swung left and spotted a guy behind a tree on top of the mountain. Single shot. "I hurt them" Second shot.  
"Enemy down." Loba let a rye smile form on her lips as a shot winged her, yet she did not move, she simply looked down her scope and fired at the person who had dared take a shot at her.  
"Another one down, I lost count after three." She said as Anita ran past her, Loba smiled knowing that her team were going in, that she had downed enough to give them the upper hand. She watched as Octane sailed past them, gun up legs going faster than Loba's eyes could properly perceive. Elliott went in last, she watched him as he raced through the slums sending out decoys and giving her a location when the other snipers shot at them. Crypto remained by her side, now on hack and identifying more assailants. He left the drone in the sky, as he pulled out his trippletake and aimed in the direction of one of the snipers. Gunfire illuminated the sky as finally the battle at the slums kicked off. Loba frowned, looking through her scope and seeing troops all over the area.  
"Damm it, we need to get in there and help them." She said going to stand up, but Tea Joon took hold of her arm.  
"We are helping them, we must get rid of the snipers or they are all dead." He said and Loba nodded, knowing he was right, but she wanted to fight, to look into the eyes of the things trying to kill her friends.  
Then the sky's opened up, Gibby had obviously brought in the air strike, and Loba found several running specters in her sights. She took a few more out without even trying, they had already been damaged by the bombs. She looked over at Crypto as she reloaded, he was looking through his scope then let off several shots claiming another elimination. She looked back through her own scope, but this time she saw no one, either that had got everyone, or they had gotten smarter about hiding. Either way they could do no more from here. Now they had to go and help the rest of their team.  
"Let's go." Loba hissed, and this time Crypto did not argue, he stood brushing himself off, but it did little to remove the mud from his chest, more spread it around and Loba smiled at him.  
"Glad I'm not the only one." She stated looking down at herself as they slid part way down the rock and landed in the stream below.  
"No I don't think any of us are looking our best right now, but we are all alive, thanks to you. I'm umm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to." Crypto stopped moving then looking awkward and Loba turned to him with a small smile.  
"Don't worry about it hansom, i guess it's kind of flattering really, that even in the middle of a gun fight, my chest still captured three people's attention." Loba grinned as she pulled herself up over the ridge and scanned for any specters in the area, but it seemed to have grown quiet.  
"Three, Crypto said before realization hit and he closed his mouth, following her up over the ridge and dropping down into the slums the other side.  
"You think it's over." He asked now the sun was making him sweat again, brown muddy lines trailed his face and Loba looked at him.  
"I don't think so, I think we might have them reconsidering their tactics, but they are still out there. I can feel it." Loba said as a shot rang out, it echoed around the slums, and made Loba's ears ring. She swung round now to find the space beside her empty.  
"Tea Joon she cried, as she looked down to see his prone bloody body lying on the concrete floor. She crouched down, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him behind a building. Loba bent down and felt Crypto's haggard breath caressing her cheek. She smiled digging around in her pack and pulling out the syringe Revenant had given her. She didn't even think twice, she pumped it into his arm. Crypto let out a cough and spluttered some blood out of his mouth. This worried Loba, but she chose to say nothing, simply helping the man to sit up.  
"There is another one in my pack." He said then hinting that he was going to need that one too, as another shot rang out and barely missed Loba's out stretched leg.  
"Damm it. Hey man down out here, we need to regroup." Loba called over the coms as Crypto managed to drag himself further into the building, and Loba followed him, as the sound of footsteps drew closer.

"There coming, can you fight." She hissed as Crypto shook his head pumping himself with more med, but he was barely up to half strength, and his ribs hurt like never before.  
"On our way." A call finally came back over the coms, it was Caustic, and it was probably the only time Loba had ever been truly happy to here the man's voice. It was however going to be too late for them. The door to the building crashed open, and Loba was temporarily blinded by the sunlight pouring through the doorway. It had been dim inside the building, and her eyes did not have time to adjust before the hard sun shone straight into her face.  
Blindly she threw a grenade at the shaft of light, then an arch star as she pushed Crypto behind the outcropping wall behind them. Pulling out her R-301 she looked at it before putting it away. It would never do enough damage to hold them off, she just had to keep them away from Crypto long enough for the cavalry to arrive.  
"Hey you looking for me." Loba said having already thrown her bracelet out of the window, and as the hail if gunfire erupted she vanished. Landing on the concrete outside, she threw another grenade at the soldiers. She smile as they emerge from the cloud of smoke, coughing and disorientated, but still hot on her trail. Now she pulled her gun and shot off some cover fire, some of it landing, and causing a few of the men to back off, but two were still coming, having now located her, and recovered enough to start firing at her. Loba ducked, rolled and flipped off the side of the building. Landing to another round of gun fire as one of the specters had flanked her, and she took a good hit to her shields before getting into cover.  
"Damm it where are you guys." Loba hissed as she put on two shield cells. She only had two more left, she did not want to waste them. Crouching behind a disused bin, she listened, haring footfalls from her left, and her right, they had her in a pincer movement, there was no way out from here, no way but up. She looked up, but the building was high, she would have to teleport, but given the time she had, she could just be sat there when they found her. Just as she was bout to release her bralette, Elliott came storming towards her, gun out, running straight into the on coming soldiers. She tried to warn him, but it was too late. Elliott was down, well his clone was, then another going in the opposite direction. Then five more surrounding her as she teleported out, gunfire hitting the clones as she vanished behind their cover.  
She landed next to the real Elliott who she had spotted on the roof on the building opposite her.  
"Nice, but we need to get to Crypto." Loba said a worried look on her face as Elliott sat up and started firing at the confused Specters.  
"It's ok Lifeline and Caustic are on it, the rest of us need to keep these idiots busy so Ajay can work her magic." He said as Loba nodded at him and started firing at the specters now pouring down on their location. As the other Legends appeared on adjacent roofs, all shooting at their common enemy. It wasn't long before the gunfire grew silent, and all that was left was a see of bodies lying on the ground.

"Ok squad, looks like we got um." Anita said climbing down from her roof top and inspecting the bodies, but there was nothing to loot, it seemed that what was here was here, they could loot the corpses, any more than they could the prowlers or the flyers.  
"Crypto is ok, a bit banged up, but he will live." Ajay's voice came through the comms and Loba gave a small smile of relief as Elliott rubbed her shoulder watching her almost slump on to the roof top with exhaustion.  
"It's ok you saved him, maybe we should get out of this heat though, your looking a bit burnt." Elliott then said suddenly becoming worried as Loba's tanned skin was now a deep red hue especially on her face and exposed chest.   
"You're probably right, but can I just lay here for a few minutes?" Loba said her eyes feeling heavy, her body limp as she lay her head down on her arm and felt the sun beating down on her back.  
"I don't think, no probably not a good idea, please get up." Elliott then said as Loba's eyes closed and he was about to simply throw her over his shoulder when a terrified cry came over the com.   
"Wattson's down, I can't wake her." It was Hounds voice, and Loba was on her feet in a moment, the recollection of the last time this had happened fresh in her memory as she jumped off the building and rushed across the open ground to where the blonde had fallen.  
"No Natalie come on." She said feeling the girls burning head and placing her fingers over her pulse point. Loba knew why she felt so responsible not just for Wattson, but all of them. It had been her decision to take this fight, to have one last chance. Now every death would be because of that decision, that everyone who could have lived may now die was on her shoulders, and hers alone. A single tear fell from Loba's left eye as she pulled Wattson up and pulled off the woman's kit freeing her from its cumbersome weight, and then looking around as Ajay slid in beside her.  
"She has heat stoke, we are all suffering." Loba stated as Ajay worked and quickly got D.O.C up and running, filling the girl with life. Wattson started to breath more evenly, and her eyes fluttered open, and Loba felt such relief that she almost collapsed right next to the woman, but managed to remain on wobbly legs.  
"We have to get back to the falls, before there is no one left to save us." Anita said as Renee set a portal and they all were back where they had started once more. Sat under the spray, drinking the cool water, and letting it sooth hot burnt skin.  
Loba sighed as she stood directly under the spray, pulling out her braids, they had almost fallen out anyway, and the water running through her hair felt really good. It wasn't until she felt somewhat clean did she open her eyes to find Anita looking at her, allowing water to cascade down her back, but keeping it off her face.  
"You ok?" She asked as Loba stepped away from the full force of the water fall and stood only in the fine spray.  
"I'll live." Loba said then as she looked over at Wattson who was looking a little green around the gills, but was sitting up and eating what looked like a lump of cheese. Loba's stomach growled and Anita let out a small laugh.

"You hungry girl, I got something, managed to keep it away from those greedy lot, knowing you probably gave everything you had away." Anita said giving her a accusatory look but Loba just stood there looking right back at her. A moment passed between them, one that told Loba everything she needed to know about the woman in front of her. Up until now Loba had taken her for a very dedicated solider, who lived for her job, but cared deeply for her family, which often included her team mates, and everyone currently in this canyon. Now she realised just how deep that care, no love ran. It was Anita's life, her calling and was probably the only other person here that understood her need to keep everyone alive. There was something else in that look, a longing that was kept barely in check. Loba understood that look well enough she had had it directed towards her enough times, but this time she felt the woman's pull like a siren.   
Loba blinked, was it because they were in this situation or was it something more profound, she thought back on to their interactions before all of this. There had been hostility in the past, but had shaped it's self in to a tentative friendship, and yet Loba had felt no real attraction to the woman, well maybe late at night when she had wandered into the kitchen for a drink and found Anita in only her sports bra doing the same thing. That had been mere carnal desire and had passed after a moment of enjoying Anita's discomfort. Now something had blossomed for the solider, but she had not acted on it, and Loba knew the woman never would, and had accepted that. It made a small smile dance across Loba's lips before she nodded and moved out from under the waterfall entirely.

"Sure beautiful I could defiantly eat something." Loba stated moving towards Anita's pack and perching on a rock as she watched the solider remove a foil wrapped loaf of bread and a small hunk of cheese and hand Loba half. Loba looked up as she bit into the bread, meeting Elliott's eyes across the small expanse of grass, and her stomach did a little flip as he smiled at her. Loba scoffed at herself she wasn't a naïve girl any more and she did not get butterflies in her stomach, but right now she was having a hard time denying her longing for him to come over and hold her. Not that she would ever ask.   
"Hey girl you got it bad?" Anita said earning a look from Loba as she snapped her gaze away from the trickster, and back at her dinner companion.  
"Loba Andrade doesn't 'get it bad' for any one." Loba said polishing off her bread and taking the final slice of cheese and poking it in to her mouth.  
"Yeah whatever, could have fooled me. I won't bother asking why I mean who ever knows why we fall in love it just seems to be one of those things in life. Like getting spots as a teenager and being embarrassed by your dad." Anita said and the shot her head up and noticed Loba's far away look.  
"Sorry I didn't mean, it just came out." She said as Loba shook her head.  
"I didn't really have much time to be embarrassed by him, but there were a few occasions." Loba's smile was radiant and Anita's heart broke a little before Revenants voice rang out.  
"Got company skin suits so get your meat bags ready for a fight, looks like your worst nightmare is coming our way." None of them needed him to clarify what he had meant, they knew it was an army of Revenant's now coming for them. they were all tired, and hurting, none of them had had any sleep for what felt like days, and some of them had even been dead. To say they were broken was not an understatement, but the rounded up, creating a line against the storm coming their way. Renee stood to the far left, Octane on her right, beside him stood Octane, who was joined by Lifeline, Crypto and Gibby. Pathfinder came next as Hound lined up on the robots right, then Anita who had Loba on her right and Elliott next to her, his hand landing on the small of her back as Revenant climbed down from his perch and stood on the end next to Elliott, not looking at them as he scanned the horizon with his orbs, and estimated the amount of clones to be in the hundreds, he was never going to escape this life with them around, but perhaps if they destroyed all of his clones this would be his last body, source code or not, perhaps he would finally be allowed ot rest.  
"It's time are you ready?" Anita asked looking down the line at faces she called family, the silent nods were all she needed to pull out her gun and start moving forwards, they needed cover and they needed height, neither of which they had here.

"Then move out." She called as the rest began to follow.


	20. Chapter 20

chapter 20

They all moved forward as a unit, forming a horse shoe shape as they approached the slums. They could see the size of the problem they would be facing now. Hundreds of simulacrums, and from this distance they looked like one giant mass. Loba looked at Elliott on her right hand side, he wasn't looking at her, but at what they were about to face. It didn't take a moment however before he obviously felt her eyes on him, and he turned his head to look at her. For a moment their eyes locked and what was coming was nothing but a forgotten nightmare.   
"Are you ok?" He mouthed to her and Loba just nodded, having to avert her gaze before she simply took him by the hand and ran off somewhere to hide. Loba knew however that hiding would do them no good in the end, they would all have to work together to get through this.  
"Get high people, we aren't going to win this on the ground." Anita shouted, as Loba scrambled up one of the buildings, followed by Elliott and Revenant. Loba said nothing about the daemons company, but she wasn't exactly best pleased by his presence. However, and this was a disturbing facet that Loba was doing her best to ignore. She wasn't as appalled by his company as she once was. She looked at him now, he was focused on what was coming, his orbs scanning the horizon. Loba knew when he had spotted something, as his entire body seemed to contract, like a cat right before it was about to pounce.  
"What is it?" She hissed at him as Elliott also turned to look at the pair.  
"Nothing you want to know girllie." Revenant replied, and if he could smirk he would have been, however too Loba his face remained impassive as always, but she could read the expression behind the voice.  
"For once could you just drop the I am death act and just tell us what is coming." Loba said having little patience for his games right now. She saw he turn to look at her, his eye roaming her face, then her form before reaching forward and taking her jaw in his cold metal hand. Loba went to shy away but he shook his head, and she let him guide her head in the direction of what he had seen. When her eyes landed on the nightmare before her she realised that Revenant had been right. She didn't want to know, she wanted to live in ignorant bliss for as long as possible, but now it was too late and she couldn't un-see what was coming.  
"Anita we have a problem, to your left 9 o'clock." Loba called over the comms, and all she heard in response was a whispered expletive. Elliott was also looking at the vision coming over the hill down from containment. He was the only other person to have seen this thing in action, and now there were three of them. Creatures like the one down in the lab, their fur glimmering in the sun now, as their riders steered them towards the slums.  
"How are we going to take them out?" Elliott whispered not wanting anyone to here him, not wanting to scare the rest of their team.  
"Not sure yet, but there must be a way we just have to find it." Loba replied before Revenant stood up and fired off a silence, blinding one of the creatures, but it held it's course, directed by the Revenant clone on it's back.  
"We take out the riders, the beast will be easy to slay after that." He then said jumping down and swiftly climbing up the side of the next building.  
"Anita we will take care of those riders if you can deal with the rest." Loba said then, deciding that they should follow Revenant, as they were the closest to the on coming beast, but it was more than that. They out of all the others were the only ones who knew what they were up against.  
"Sure thigh highs you have fun, we got this." Anita said right before gun fire erupted all around them, and Loba almost winced at the almost deafening noise.  
"Come on." She shouted over the din at Elliott who followed her without question, as they joined Revenant on the building furthest edge of the slums.

Anita was blasting out smoke left right and center, trying to confuse the clones. She had fought and lost to these things before. She was not about to make the same mistake twice. Getting Wraith to place a portal she moved everyone through it, into a building behind them before calling in the rolling thunder. Wattson had placed fences over most of the near by buildings, and so blocking the clones exit from the bombs.  
"Get cover people, Gibby as soon as these things come back out hit them again." Anita said as they crouched together in the corner of the building. Anita looked at each face, some pensive, some worried, some even excited, but all of them knew just how serious this was. Anita missed the face of Loba, looking back at her, that knowing smile on her face. The arch of her eyebrow as Anita gave orders she didn't completely agree with, and the smirk when she was proved right. Then there was no running commentary from Mirage, no light hearted interludes that always helped her to get through sticky situations without turning into a ridged mess.  
"Enemy's down, more than a few." Anita called as her bombs did the damaged, but also thinned out their ranks, as the clones all scattered for cover. they knew this as Hound sent out a scan of the area. Now instead of a single wave of bodies, they were spread, and would be far easier to pick off.  
"Go now, teams of three make it count people." Anita yelled as she followed Crypto out of the building, and felt Wattson on her back as the turned left and found a squad of about ten clones. Taking them down with minimal damage Anita paused for a moment to find the next cell, before a cry came over the comms.  
"Caustic's down, need help friend." It was Pathfinder, he sounded almost panicked for him and Anita didn't hesitate to take her team to their downed colleague. It seemed like everyone converged on the same location, all responding to the call from Pathfinder. He was alone fighting a team of about twenty clones, and amazingly holding his own.  
"Don't worry I got you." Lifeline shouted, placing her shields up and healing him. It was however too little too late, as Lifeline got swarmed by a team of clone running in behind, and was taken down. Octane watched as his life long friend got mown down by a wave of bodies. He did the only thing he could think of, he ran in guns blazing.  
"No get together or we will all go down!" Anita yelled, as the rest of them gathered around her trying to form a line of defense. they could do nothing for Octane as he tried to beat back the throng of Revenant's, trying to get to Ajay.   
Hound put in a lot of gun fire keeping some of them at bay but there was just too many. Even as the rest of them joined in, including Caustic, who had managed to crawl out of the mess below them, although he had no shields and little health, he kept on fighting. Anita had to give the acerbic old man credit for that at least.  
"I could call in the air strike." Gibby said as they all pulled back, reloading and not wanting to see the carnage below them.  
"You can't it will kill them, no such thing as friendly fire in this match." Anita said, but she knew it was already too late for Ajay and Silva. She wasn't about to say that out loud however.  
"We must help them, hold on." Wraith said, as she took a deep breath, it was her time now, she knew it, felt it in her bones. She began running into the void, through so many bodies she almost felt claustrophobic, until she found Ajay and Silva huddled in a a corner together, almost blead out. Renee exited her portal, hoping that both her downed team mates would get back to safety before they died here in a dark room, in a simulated game. It was however not to be. The Revenants they were facing might have only been clones, but they had all the intelligence it seemed of the real thing. Renee felt the bullets pierce her skin before she could even get her gun out.  
"You shouldn't have come for us chica, now we are all dead." Siva said as a Clone finished him off, to the screams of Ajay, but her scream was cut short as she too was ended by a spike between the shoulder blades. Blood erupted from her chest, and the scream became a gurgle as blood poured from her mouth. Renee stood watching in horror, unable to move as more bullets pierced her skin, making her cry out in pain. She did the only thing she could. Diving back through her portal, she should have know she wouldn't be alone.

Anita watched as Renee half dead, and bleeding fell back through the portal. Gibby put his shield's up, hoping to heal the downed woman, but as he did a dozen clones poured through the portal behind the void jumper.  
"Open fire." Anita yelled, taking down more than a few as her team joined in. As they managed to take out all that had followed Renee, more came though the door behind them, only slowed down by the gas traps Caustic had placed in the doorway. It did not however stop them, and the scientist went down quickly. He had not been able to heal properly due to the lack of med kits, and the demise of their medic. Anita could only fire her gun, hitting what she could, but she saw Caustic fall. His eyes open looking at her as he lay on his side, blood coming from the wound on his chest. Until a final cough and splutter saw the light light in his eye go out.  
"We have to get out of here." Crypto yelled, realising that they were trapped like rats in a barrel, and there was in fact only one end to this situation, and that was their demise.  
"Yes, come on get out now." Anita yelled, putting down her smoke to conceal their exit as they moved through the opposite door. "Where are you Loba come on princess." Anita hissed into the comms, but she received no reply, and her stomach for a moment dropped into her feet.

Loba could only follow Revenant as he made his way to the top of the mountain. She could have easily teleported up there, but she did not want to leave Elliott alone. He helped her now over a ride at the top, and for a moment held her hand tightly. He knew as well as she did this might be it. They had herd the commotion over the comms, until Loba had turned the sound right down. There was nothing they could do to help their friends right now, nothing but stop what was coming for them all.  
"Get ready skin bags, their coming." Revenant said, aiming his silence now at the clones on the beasts backs. He managed to blind two of them, causing the creatures to loose their footing on the steep mountain, but it only stopped them for a moment.  
"Aim for the riders, the best can be dealt with later." Revenant said as Loba got out her longbow and crouched lining up her shot. She hit taking one rider off it's mount. The beast seemed to become confused, before it gathered it's self and started to follow the others up the mountain.  
"Sending out my clone." Elliott stated as several Mirages ran past Loba, heading down the mountain, and for a few blissful moments the beast followed them. Loba lined up another shot as Revenant put fire in taking out another rider.   
"Enemy down." Loba declared as Revenant ran past her seeing the danger before she did. the beast were now headed away from them, but more clones were coming. It was clear their intention was to take over the ride on the creatures, and continue their assault on the trio.  
Loba knew what Revenant was planning before he even climbed on the beasts back. She pulled Elliott over to the edge and pointed towards one of the unmounted creatures.  
"You fancy a ride handsome." She said as Elliott blushed and gave her a look which made it clear he had got her double entendre.   
"Sure why no, you can only die once right." He replied with a slight smile as Loba stood up putting her gun away and running down the mountain, Elliott's hand clutched in her own. Once they got to the confused beast, they had to fight off two clones before they managed to scramble onto it's back. It shook wildly trying to throw them off, and Loba looked at Revenant in a panic.  
"How do you control it!" She yelled as Revenant came bounding over on his beast, it swiped away all the lurking clones and stopped next to Loba and Elliott's mount. It seemed to immediately calm down.  
"It appears you don't have the equipment girrlie." Revenant smiled as his hand which was piercing the back of the creatures skull turned slightly causing the beast to now face them. Loba raised her eyebrow at the simulacrums attempt at flirting.   
"Fine we'll improvise." Loba said then, pulling out her staff and poking it into the spot on the beasts neck. It seemed to do the trick almost immediately, and it also gave them something to hang on to. Elliott's arms going around Loba's waist and grabbing hold, of the pole. Not s moment too soon the beast started to respond, moving forward as Loba pushed on the staff. They ploughed through what must have been twenty clones before coming to the slums, and hearing a scream that curdled Loba's blood. She could not tell who it was, but she knew whoever it was, was probably not in a good way.  
"Come on." She said to Elliott who nodded against her back. It was a fact that Loba was not about to share, that his closeness was making this just about bearable. His strong arms holding her tightly, as they raced through the narrow walkways, his hot breath caressing her neck, and the feeling of his heart beating made her want to lean back against him, but she couldn't right now, her friends needed them, and there was no way she was about to let them down.  
Loba spotted a smoke bomb go out, and she quickly threw the beast to the right, causing Elliott to grip her tighter, and pull himself flush against her so he could get his gun out and remain on the creatures back.  
"You steer honey, I'll shoot." Elliott said the endearment slipping from his lips before his brain could filter it. Loba said nothing, but he knew if she got the chance he was going to pay for that one. Elliott looked forward to it.  
Loba watched as Anita, followed by Hound, and what looked like an injured Wraith ran through the smoke in one direction. Gibby, Pathfinder and Crypto went in another, and she saw no one else. Right now Loba couldn't think about where the others might be she turned right and followed Anita taking out the clones that were following her, as she then swopped left and found Revenant already taking care of the clones on the tail of the rest of the team.  
"I got this girllie you want to concentrate on the rest of them." Revenant said as another wave of clones came pouring through the slums and began to overwhelm the beast until Elliott let off a spray of bullets with his Devotion. It killed some but made the rest back off allowing their escape. Loba pulled the beast back, but soon saw the clones turn on Anita and her team of only three. she gasped as her friends disappeared under a swarm of bodies, gunfire spraying out from the pile, and Loba charged at the throng. Not thinking, not caring just hoping to save her friends. Elliott had a single hand on her waist now as he fired his Devotion into the mass off bodies. The Simulacrum's fell quickly to the slashing claws, and the bullets, until Loba saw Renee's broken body emerge from the scattering and half dead clones. She wasn't moving, blood seemed to cover her entire form, and her head was twisted at an unnatural angle.  
"No..." Loba screamed as she turned on the running clones and drove the beast full speed, ploughing into them and simply mowing them down. Her rage seemed to transfer to the creature between her legs. It reared up on it's hind legs, slashing at everything that moved, taking out more clones than Loba could even count. Loba did not hear the screams over the din of the roar coming from the creature, she only knew of the broken bodies it left in it's wake.

Wattson, Crypto, pathfinder and Gibraltar were in the mist of a battle for their lives, they knew it, and their enemy's knew it too. Clawed fingers swiped at them, as their silences were defected by Natalie's pylon. Yet bullets still came through, finally Tea Joon took one in the head and it downed him. He fell to his knees, Natalie immediately went to him, leaving Path and Gibby to beat back the clones. It was as she could see even from her position on the floor a loosing battle. Now though she tuned her eyes down to Tea Joon's and watched blood leak from his lips. She wipe it clean, only for more to appear as he attempted to speak.  
"Hush now." She said leaning down and placing a soft kiss on those lips, not caring about the blood that was now covering her own face. Crypto continued to try to speak his eyes seeking hers even as the colour drained from him.  
"I know, and perhaps there will be another chance, papa always said there was a solution to everything, you just had to..." She did not finish her sentence, as her words turned into a scream when a blade plunged through her chest. Tea Joon could do nothing but watch as Natalie was scooped up in front of him, her body broken and bent as her blood now cascaded down and mixed with his own. Her body was dropped onto him then, her face pressed into the side of his neck as Tea Joon heaved in the last breath he would ever take.

Gibby was alone, he had lost his team in the chaos, and now he crouched behind a wall, pulling on his last shield cell. It left him with little to work with. He knew he couldn't take many more hits, but his family needed him. He dived back into the room, gun out shield up, to find only silence, a pile of bodies, and two of his friends. A tear ran down his cheek, knowing immediately that there was nothing he could do for them, and now he could here Pathfinders cries. Rushing out the door, he was met with a sight he almost could not watch. A large creature, with wide jaws and razor sharp teeth had Path in it's grip, it was crushing him between those jaws, a grinding sound coming form the robot, as his metal frame was crushed. Gibby looked up to see the simulacrum riding the beast, it's eyes glowing. Gibby fired at the rider, causing the beast to spit out a broken Pathfinder, and turn it's attention to him. Claws stuck his shield, breaking it almost in half. Teeth snapped at his midsection, and Gibby dodged it all, until a heavy object struck his legs, knocking him down hard on his face. He managed to turn himself over as the creatures tail whipped around again, striking him on the face and tunneling his vision. Gibby's head spun, he rolled to the side almost instinctively, but he felt the claws did into his back, ripping at muscle, and causing a small scream to fall from his lips.  
The sound of gunfire was lost in a haze of pain, and still the claws did not let up their grip, it only tightened, bone now cracking, until Gibby knew nothing else and dropped to the ground.  
Anita saw Gibby in the claws of what must have been one of the creatures, neither Loba or Revenant were riding. She hoped this was the only one left, but she did not have much faith in miracles any more. The gun fire did not seem to effect the beast, in fact it only seemed to make it more angry. Anita did not look at Gibby's body, she could not, she only watched as Hound jumped on the creatures back and started going hand to hand with the clone riding it. As she looked around she saw Renee sat on the ground, her arm was broken, her wounds bleeding freely now, but she was still attempting to get to her feet as Hound hit the ground. He had fallen from the beast, but so had the clone riding it. Anita watched as Renee scrambled up on to the beast back. She could do nothing to stop the void walker, as more clones had come, blocking her path, and now she had no choice but to fight them. She lost sight of the rest of her team as she ran from the overwhelming simulacrums, and tried to gain better position.

Renee grabbed hold of the beast's fur, and pulled hard, but nothing happened, just a blood stained lump of fur coming off between her slick fingers.   
"Damm it." She cried stabbing her blade into it's neck, hoping to kill it, but all of a sudden it stilled.   
"There we go." Renee stated as she turned the beast now and headed towards Anita who was getting swarmed by clones. She worked out quickly how to control the beast and took out clone after clone, until there was barely any left and she spotted Anita on a roof firing her sniper at the stragglers. She gave the woman a wink, but froze at Anita's return look. It was however too little too late. Renee felt the metal spike before she looked down and saw it protruding from her chest. No sound came from her lips, no profound last words, just the darkness.

Anita fired furiously at the beast as Renee's body dropped from it's back and the clone once more took control of it. It did nothing to stop the thing from rampaging across the slums, until another creature rammed into the side of it. Anita could just make out two figures on its back. The long black and red hair gave away exactly who it was and Anita couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. it was odd to find even the slightest gimmer of hope, surrounded by all this death, but here it was. Loba and Elliott riding a creature from hell and now attacking the enemy head on. Anita turned to find Hound standing behind her. Blooded and panting hard, but alive.  
"We must finish this feligi fighter." They said and Anita nodded, as she looked up to see Revenant fighting off what looked like the final squad of clones. There was maybe fifty, and they were falling fast, but his beast had taken a lot of punishment, and blood fell from it's flanks and face. She then looked over at Loba and Elliott, they were battling the other creature, Anita knew there was nothing she could do to help them, and so turned to their only option.  
"You take the left, I'll go right." She said and Hound nodded, leaping off the building and breaking left to flank the clones that were now overwhelming Revenants beast.  
Reverent felt the creature collapse under him, he didn't care he could kill these things without it. Pulling out his R-99 he fired at anything that moved, clawed at the things jumping on his back, and hitting his silence to beat back the on slaughter. He lost count of how many he had taken down, until a familiar voice broke through the throng.  
"Together simulacrum, we win this together." It was Hound they had only half of their elaborate costume left on their body, the rest torn from the battle and hanging in lose shreds around them.  
"Yes." Revenant replied in a low tone, before turning and spearing a clone ion the face and dropping it to the floor. For a few moments it looked like they were winning, until multiple silences struck, blinding them and forcing them to their knees as the current ran through their bodies.  
"Don't die on me now skin suit." Revenant said, but he received no reply, and as he swung his head around he saw Hound his hatchet in a clones neck, the clones arm in his chest both gone, both entwined in what was forever a deadly dance.  
"Damm it." Revenant hissed as he finally was brought to his knees, and several clones jumped on his back. He fought hard until his left arm separated from his body, he watched as it swung through the air, and landed only feet from his face, as it hit the dirt. Bombs then started cascading down around his head. He simply closed his eyes and welcomed the end.

Loba and Elliott were only managing to stay on their mount with sheer will alone as it battled with the other creature. Loba then took hold of Elliott's hand and placed it on her staff.  
"You take it, I have to get to the other one, or we are going to die, I know it." Loba said as Elliott's hand clamped down on hers.  
"No we can win, please." He said as Loba steered her beast away trying to reposition for a better angle. The other creature did the same, but they wouldn't have long before it came for them.  
"Maybe, but if I go we will win, I know I can take that clone, it's just one more Demiono I will have to deal with, you can do this, I believe in you." Loba said then her lips smacking into Elliott's in the messiest, but most heart felt kiss he had ever had, but as he was about to pull her in closer, she was gone. A flash of light and a slight buzz all that was left. Elliott grabbed hold of the staff and ran his beast at the other one. Seeing Loba land on it's back and immediately grab hold of the clone.

Loba felt the blow to her face, but she ignored the pain shooting through her jaw. She wrapped her legs around the clones waist and pulled backwards on its neck, forcing it to loose it's connection with the beast, as it's blade slipped from it's neck.   
"Damm why can't you things just die." Loba cried as she pulled her Wingman from her side holster and held it against the clones head. Firing a single shot into the clones skull, she was suddenly thrown backwards and the beast below her span around to face the creature coming towards it. Loba landed hard on the ground, the clones body pounding her hard as it landed on her, but she pushed it off and rolled to the side before she got trampled by the creature.  
She could only watch as Elliott battled the now confused, rider less beast. He body was in bits, her brain on some kind of pause, until she heard the bombs hit. Turning towards them she saw Anita running into a throng of clones, gun blasting as she picked off one after another. Loba knew Anita wouldn't last long in spite of her rampage, and for a moment she was torn. She looked and saw Elliott had taken a blow from the creatures claws, but was hanging on, and the beast now alone and without a rider was weak and bleeding. Her head turned slowly then as Anita's war cry rang out. Loba struggled to her feet, pulling herself from the dirt, just as a large mass fell exactly where she had been lying, and Elliott rolled bruised and battered at her feet.  
"Got him." He said his eyes closing as his hands wrapped around his middle, and Loba bent down pumping in her final met kit into Elliott's arm, as the creature behind them died, along with the one they had been riding. Both succumbing to their injuries.  
"Come on we aren't done yet." Loba stated as she pulled Elliott up and ran with him into the mass of clones.  
Anita was fighting alone, and if this was how it was going to go down, the so be it. She would take as many down as she could with her. It wasn't until a warm hand landed on her shoulder did she finally take her finger off the trigger. Turning to see Loba at her back and Elliott behind her she let out a small smile.  
"Took your time princess, but as you're here you want to give me a hand?" Anita said as Loba gave her a brief wink before taking on the nearest clone and downing it. It was only a few moments before Anita realised they might actually win this one. She could see daylight between the bodies now, and Elliott had just finished another. But as the thought swept unbidden through her mind, she saw Elliott take a shot to the neck, blood sprayed all over Loba's face, causing the woman to stop and look at the horrific sight before her. If Anita hadn't known better she thought right in that moment Loba had inwardly collapsed as she watched someone she cared for die in front of her. Anita knew better, and as Elliott went down, Loba threw herself in-between him and the clone about to finish him off. Stabbing her staff into it's chest and taking it out. Anita ran to her trying to fend off the clones, but one finally hit Loba, low in the abdomen, forcing he to her knees, and finally, even as Anita sprayed her last remaining bullets at the thing with Loba's neck in it's grip, she was too late, The woman dropped to the floor, broken but alive.  
"No you don't you hunk of metal, you don't get to take them all." Anita ran at the thing, but all of a sudden it was down, along with everything else. Nothing but bodies now lay at Anita's feet. She ran quickly to Loba, and Elliott, who had managed to crawl over to her and place one hand over his own neck wound and another on Loba's right hip.  
"It's ok it's over." Anita said, but she was stopped by the sound of the announcers voice.  
"There must only be three winners, you can only save one." They said and Anita looked up.  
"Hey learn to count, me, the king of clones over here, and old corset, that makes three." Anita said, but as she looked up at the bright sky she knew there was something else, something probably far worse than battling thousands of Revenant clones.  
"No you see Revenant will survive, he will be downloaded into another body and will continue in the games. You will also get to continue, but only one of these two can join you, as stated in the previous arrangement, we will only take three Legends into the next season." Anita practically screamed as she looked at the pair lying together, Loba draped half over Elliott, both unconscious and with little time before they succumbed to their injuries.  
"You planned this, you wanted this exact scenario, these exact Legends, why?" She asked, unable to decide which one to save, it was an almost impossible decision and for now she just wanted to stall.  
"We had several scenario's planned out, this was number three on that list, we will spare you the other outcomes for now however choose, which one will you save sergeant?"  
TBC.....


	21. Chapter 21

chapter 21

Anita looked around in despair, but she was surrounded by only broken bodies. There was no one left, no one but the two dying people lying at her feet.  
"I won't do it, you can't make me." Anita said, sounding even to her own ears like a petulant child. She felt like one right now, her mind going over and over the choice she had been given. Which of them did she save, but more importantly, perhaps, which one did she let die.  
"If you do not choose sergeant then they will both die, I guess we can work with just the two of you, but it wouldn't be ideal." The voice said and Anita suddenly felt beyond angry, her entire body shaking with the control Anita was trying to exert over her own emotions.  
"It's so easy for you, they aren't your friends, they mean nothing to you but viewing figures, nothing but a number on the page, but to me they are so much more." Anita's voice trailed off, she went over to her two prone team mates now, they were both still breathing, but barely. Loba's head was in Elliott's lap, as he had propped himself against a nearby rock, his hand lay gently on the Latino's shoulder, and if Anita didn't know any better it looked like they had just fallen asleep. She did not look at the blood, she saw past it, seeing only her friends. She looked at Loba's face now, even through the blood and the muck, she was still beautiful. Anita tried to think about this like a solider. Loba was the newest legend, and probably the least deserving of the two to be saved. She had lied to them all, got Wattson hurt, all for her own gains. However she had managed to redeem herself, becoming another member of the family, a part of what was Anita's team. Anita could now understand why Loba had done what she did. Consumed by the need for revenge on Revenant, she had become blinded to what she was doing to them. She wasn't blind any more, and that in itself was a miracle. 

Anita reached out and placed her hand on Loba's cheek, she did not stir, but Anita's heart started to thump hard in her chest, and it wasn't because Loba was a good fighter, it had nothing to do with her as a Legend but as a woman. The thought of her dying here in the dirt made Anita almost impossibly sad. Deep down Anita knew she had a crush on the woman, some infatuation that had started the night they had confronted Revenant at Loba's ship. Maybe it was Loba's breakdown, how the carefully constructed layers of defense she had built around herself just crumbled away. To see her as herself was more of an eye opener than Anita had ever thought about. Those layers never really came back with the same strength, and slowly Loba Andrade was more real than she had ever been in her life. That was what Anita had fallen for, the woman not the façade.   
Her eyes moved to Elliott who was slumped slightly towards Loba, his hand had not moved from the woman's shoulder, almost seeming to hold on even in his unconscious state. Anita considered him one of her oldest friends. They had always had such a easy relationship. Even in Anita's darkest moment the man managed to cheer her up. Weather it was a simple invitation to share a drink, or a tension breaking comment, he had always had her back. The thought of him gone, made Anita's heart break a little. She loved him too, but in a different way, he was like her brother to her, and that hit harder than anything else. The man was generous, always thinking of others, and Anita couldn't just let him die.  
There was one final thing that made Anita pause before simply making her choice and living with it. She knew which ever one she saved would be broken by the others death. Whatever had blossomed between them here, in this arena of death was strong. She had seen it in Elliott's face long before this had even began, but she had seen it on Loba's when they were having dinner. A longing that Anita had not felt since she last saw her brother's body in that coffin. The need to be with him, the all consuming desire to touch, hold and be with another person. Whomever she saved would not be the same person that started these games, this Reckoning that had taken all but one of them from her.   
"You know I think I have decided." Anita said then and she remained crouched down next to her friends, her hand moving to hold Loba's hand in her own. She held it gently caressing the back of the woman's wrist with her thumb.  
"Good please administer the revive syringe to your chosen Legend and this game will be complete." The disembodied voice said as Anita began to shake her head, moving Loba's hand so it now loosely gripped her fallen Wingman.  
"You will have to send someone in to do that, I choose myself." Anita said using Loba's hand like a puppets and moving the gun under her chin. wrapping both her finger and Loba's around the trigger, she looked down as Elliott seemed to open his eyes. He quickly assessed the situation and coughed instead of spoke, as Anita locked eyes with him.  
"Take care of her." She said as she pulled on the trigger, Loba's finger actually activating the gun, and the bullet shot out of the barrel as all that remained was the smell of gun powder, and Anita's fallen body. A pool of expanding blood leaking from the massive head wound, and Elliott's weak cry of sadness.

Loba blinked her eyes open, they fluttered slightly, even at the low light in the room, until a face came into her view. She allowed a small smile to grace her lips as Elliott's face smiled back down at her.  
"Thank god I thought you were never going to wake up, you did take a pretty good shot." He said a Loba quickly threw the covers from her body and pulled up the vest top she had been put in. Looking at her stomach, which still felt tender, but there was no wound. She lay back down with a thunk, breathing out a sigh of relief.  
"We made it?" It was a rhetorical question, they had obviously made it. Elliott moved his chair closer, not knowing weather to hold her hand or not. Things felt different now their lives were not in immediate danger. Like they had gone back to what it was like before. Elliott admiring her for afar, while Loba seemed almost indifferent to his presence. That's what Elliott thought until he felt a pressure in his hand. He looked down and saw Loba's fingers entwine in his own. Her grip tightened, until she was almost clutching at him, her head turned towards him now, her gaze no longer fixed on the celling.   
"I'm glad you're ok, I thought. I thought you were dead." She said there was a tremble to her lip, and Elliott couldn't help but move forward, wrapping her in his arms. Loba in turn wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer, until he was almost lying on her. Not that Elliott was complaining, but here was not the time for his wayward thoughts. They had eyes on them, and not just the Hammond doctors that had fixed them up.   
"You know if you're feeling better, we should get out of here, go back to the lodge, there is probably a few things you should know." Elliott then said pulling away from her so he could look at her face.  
"Yes lets go home." Loba then said, using him to pull herself up, and ignoring the pain in her abdominal muscles. She dressed quickly as Elliott waited for her outside. Loba did not want to know who hadn't made it out, who she had killed. She also knew she would have to face reality eventually, and coming out of her room now and seeing Elliott push himself away from the wall, and give her a small smile, gave her at least some hope. He was alive and they would get through this together no matter what. She had suffered loss before, she could do it again, only this time she wouldn't have to do it alone.

Loba padded into the kitchen, she had awoken for a reason she knew not what, but she did know that she was thirsty. She pulled the jug of water from the fridge and a glass from the shelf. As she set the glass down she spotted someone's holo padd lying on the side, it's screen displayed the headline from a week ago. It read ' Solace's favorite solider makes ultimate sacrifice.' Loba picked it up, staring at the image on the screen. Her hand was the one around the gun, but it was Anita who had really pulled the trigger. Loba had no recollection of the events that ended their nightmare match, but she had seen the pictures, she had read the articles, and she and Elliott had spoken at length about what had happened.  
Loba continued to look at the picture, and wondered what she would have done if she had been in Anita's shoes. Loba would like to think she would have done the same thing. That she would have chosen to save her friends over her own life. There was however, a small yet undeniable part of her that knew she would have chosen Elliott, at least in her heart, here in the dark alone, she could admit that. She had not told him this however, she didn't know weather it was because of her own shame at the admittance, or the fear that he would not feel the same way. She put her glass down now and turned around so she was leaning back against the counter top, her eyes falling closed. She thought about how she and Elliott had sat up that first night they had returned to the lodge, just talking. She went over the conversation thinking about how he had been pretty honest with her. How he had wanted to continue what they had started in the arena. She had smiled at that, also wanting to see what they had when their lives weren't in imminent danger. Yet they had both avoided the subject of Anita, and that was telling in itself. Neither of them wanted to go there, it was too hard, too raw a subject at the moment. Elliott had told her one thing however, he had told her what Anita had asked of him before she shot herself in the head. Loba saw the pressure that had placed on the man's shoulders. She had told him that right now, him just being there was enough. It didn't seem to do much to alleviate the burden from him.   
Loba sighed and drained her glass, placing it back on the counter, and picking up the jug of water and pouring herself a second glass with every intention of taking it back to bed with her, just incase she woke again, it would save her the walk. She bent forward and opened the fridge when a soft voice startled her into almost dropping the heavy jug.

"This is starting to become a habit princess, you ever think of taking a glass to bed with you."  
"Damm it Anita you scared the hell out of me." Loba said placing the jug down and turning quickly to face the soldier who was lent on the counter. The woman wore a smug look on her face, and her eyes were moving upwards stopping at Loba's eyes.  
"Nice view though." Anita winked, and Loba raised her eyebrow at the solider, but did nothing to cover her sleep attire.   
"Yeah well I'm hardly going to get dressed to get a glass of water, at 2am, didn't think anyone would be up." Loba replied moving over to the counter and perching herself on one of the stools, having the sneaking suspicion that this was not going to be a short conversation.  
"Fair enough, you wake up, or not sleeping?" Anita asked as she picked up Loba's glass and took a drink for it. Loba said nothing, more than happy to share, as she watched Anita wipe her lips before replacing the glass on the counter.  
"Woke up, not sure why, I didn't remember this time, which is an improvement." Loba said, their eyes meeting again across the counter.  
"Yeah well I don't actually think I have been to sleep, I just cant stop thinking about what happened, how they tricked us, how we became nothing but lab rats to them. An experiment to test the limits of human endurance." Anita spoke her voice becoming more bitter the more she said, and Loba couldn't blame her. Hammond had done a number on them. Letting them think they were really going to die. Making them suffer heat, cold, the death of their friends. It had all been to test how to make the games more exciting, to push them to their limits, and beyond. For Hammond the test had been a success, not only because of the data they had collected, but the relationships that had developed inside the pressure cooker. Not just between Elliott and Loba, but all of them, how they had bonded together in the face of adversity.

The general anger towards Hammond was a constant source of conversation, and the threat of them all walking had been on the table for a while. Until Hammond had promised that it would never happen again, and they could all have a week off to get over not only their injuries, but possibly, and more importantly the emotional scars it had left. Some of the Legends had left. Hound had gone out into the wild and had yet to return, no one was worried. Octane and Ajay had gone back home together, in some kind of recapturing their childhood bonding session. Gibby had gone to visit a man he had been seeing on the quite, but would not give much detail. Path and Revenant were on solace, Path for some much needed repair, and the other to get downloaded into another body. Loba wasn't sure how she felt about that yet, not after his revelations. Caustic had locked himself in his lab, and much to Loba satisfaction. Crypto had taken Wattson on a trip to his cabin, on the pretense of needing the electrical engineers help on a project. It had left the lodge pretty empty, only Loba, Elliott, Anita and Renee remained. For now it's just what they needed, but soon they would be coming back to start a new season, a new Legend would be arriving, and none of them had any idea who that might be. For now though Loba was enjoying the easy silence that had fallen between them.  
"You ever need to talk about anything princess you know where I am." Anita said then breaking the silence and holding eye contact for what seemed like a age before Loba took in a deep breath.  
"Why did you do it, why save us?" She asked, and here now in the dark the question just seemed easier. Maybe it was the silence, maybe it was the fact that Anita looked ready to talk, or maybe it was just something Loba had to know.  
"Because I could never choose, which ever one of you I saved would never had forgiven me. I know you will deny it, but he loves you, and I couldn't live with taking that away from him, and as for you, well you would have gone on, but like you were before, closed off, manipulative, and certainly not interested in being in my bed." Anita said not caring now, letting the truth fall from her lips, however revealing it was. She managed to silence Loba for a moment, and Anita didn't know weather this was a good thing or not. She waited for the Latino to speak, she had no more to say really anyway.  
"I don't know if I could have done it, if I could have killed myself for you." Loba replied now not looking at the solider, but her gazed fixed on the half empty glass on the table. A pressure on her hand made her look up as Anita wrapped her fingers around Loba's.  
"You would have done what your heart told you to do, and that would have been right, no matter what it was." Anita said, and it was as close to her saying she would have forgiven her for choosing Elliott over herself as she was going to get. Loba gave her a small smile, and then ran her eyes over the solider. She was wearing a black vest top and loose tan sleep shorts. Her muscular arms were out, her toned thighs, and flat stomach, all on display, as Loba's eyes scanned the woman's chest before she met her eyes again.  
"Perhaps in another life things would have gone the other way." Loba said offering what she thought was some comfort but Anita shook her head, but did not pull her hand away.  
"Hey I get it, and hey there will always be more Legends, one of them might even be better looking than you." Anita said with a wicked smile as Loba now pulled back and folded her arms over her chest and Anita started laughing.  
"You think you're funny, well I guess we will just have to wait and see." Loba said then unfolding her arms and leaning on the counter, and watching as Anita shook her head and then turned her eyes to the doorway.

"Hey don't lurk it's creepy." Anita stated as Elliott emerged from the shadow at the entrance to the kitchen, and walked up beside Loba, giving her a small smile before sitting next to her.  
"Sorry I didn't want to interrupt, looked like you were having deep and meaningful's." He said as Loba turned towards him slightly.  
"You know you are always welcome, we weren't really saying anything interesting anyway, well Anita is hoping for a new Legend that's even better looking than me." Loba said with a grin on her face as the solider berried her head in her hands. Elliott looked from Loba to Anita and let out a small laugh.  
"Not sure that's even possible, but good luck I guess." Elliott said as Anita just waved her hand at him, her face burning red as they discussed her love life, or lack there of. For a while they just shot the breeze. Speculating on the new Legend, wondering what next season would be like. How all there friends were doing, until Loba let out a huge yawn and stretched until all her bones clicked at once.  
"You tired, it's almost morning, hell." Elliott said as he placed a hand around her waist and rubbed a soothing pattern against her side.  
"Not really, more like waking up for the first time, I feel like I have a energy for the first time in days." Loba said with a slight smile, and Elliott's heart did a little stutter at the implied suggestion.  
"Oh so, you want to stay up, or you know go back to bed, but I guess if you're not sleepy." Elliott began to stutter, all to a wear that they were not alone, as he glanced at the smiling face of the solider opposite them.  
"Hell guys really, I'm sitting right here, you couldn't have just pretended you were tired and gone off to bed, no you have to get all suggestive right now." Anita said colour rising on her cheeks to match that of Elliott's. Loba remained ever poised and looked from one to the other before taking Elliott's hand and getting down off the stool.  
"Come on let's go to bed." She said with a wink which had Elliott practically falling over the chair to follow her, before he almost crashed into her back as Loba stopped in the doorway.  
"Hey you wanna join us beautiful?" Loba suggested as Anita looked at her in horror for a moment, before deciding that she was probably joking.  
"Piss off coreset, and try not to break any furniture." She called as Loba gave her a wink, before Elliott virtually picked her up and moved Loba off down the hallway. Anita sat for a moment at the counter, glancing left out of the window and seeing the first rays of sunlight appear over the horizon. It was a brand new day, and they were all here, all still living and breathing in the same little corner of the universe, and Anita was eternally grateful for that.

THE END  
Thank you for all the Kudos, comments and support of this story, I do hope you enjoyed it, and most importantly MERRY CHRISTMAS!


End file.
